Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on October 23, 2024 in New York City, USA.
Brendan McDiarmid | Reuters
Futures tracking the S&P 500 index traded near the flatline Wednesday night after the S&P 500 index posted its third consecutive day of declines.
S&P 500 futures rose 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose nearly 0.4%. Dow futures fell 79 points (about 0.2%).
Tesla soared 12% in after-hours trading after the electric car maker’s third-quarter profit beat The Street’s expectations. Tech giant International Business Machines fell more than 2% as consulting revenue narrowly missed analysts’ expectations.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Wednesday’s session with its biggest single-day decline since early September, falling more than 400 points, or 0.96%. The S&P 500 fell 0.92%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.6%. It was the third consecutive day of declines for the Dow and S&P 500.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose this week, hitting a milestone of 4.25% at Wednesday’s trading high. Rising yields have put pressure on stock prices recently.
Paul Hickey, co-founder of Bespoke Investment Group, said he wouldn’t read too much into the recent sell-off.
“Today is a tough day, but we have to think in light of what we have seen over the past six weeks. Part of this rally was driven first by the fact that big banks had strong earnings results. — has performed very well and the stock price reaction has been positive,” he said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” Wednesday afternoon. “It’s a tough day, but there are days like that.”
Hickey warned that the market could pull back slightly after the U.S. presidential election in November. Still, he reassured that the market will find its footing after this issue.
“If the election comes and the news reaction sells (see “It’s very good in terms of earnings, the economy and the Fed supporting the market.”
Further financial results are expected on Thursday. United Parcel Service, Honeywell, Northrop Grumman, Southwest Airlines and American Airlines are among the companies planning to report before the market opens.
On the economic front, weekly unemployment claims numbers are scheduled to be released on Thursday morning. Data on new home sales and building permits will also be released.
