S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 Futures Gain, While Dow Slips Following NVDA Blockbuster Q2 Report— CRM, CRWD, HPQ in Focus

U.S. stock futures were mixed on Thursday, as the Dow Jones index slipped, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indices rose, following Wednesday’s lower close.

On the economic front, initial jobless claims fell by 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 203,000 for the week ending Aug. 22, pointing to continued labor market resilience. Meanwhile, Census Bureau data showed July’s advance U.S. goods trade deficit widened 17.2% to $118.8 billion as exports fell and imports surged, while advance wholesale inventories rose 1.3% to $959.1 billion and retail inventories increased 0.7% to $838.5 billion.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani is traveling to Tehran on Thursday to spearhead mediation efforts aimed at reviving negotiations. While the pause in fighting has held for nearly a month, no diplomatic breakthrough has been reached; the U.S. reimposed a naval blockade against Iranian ports last month and enacted fresh economic sanctions following alleged violations in the Strait of Hormuz.

Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.66%, and the two-year bond was at 4.22%. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool projections show markets pricing a 36.1% likelihood of the Federal Reserve hiking the current interest rates during its September meeting.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF(NASDAQ: QQQ), which track the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, respectively, were higher in premarket on Thursday. The SPY was up 0.30% at $768.41 , while the QQQ advanced by 0.90% to $717.75.

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