By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - U.S. stock futures moved higher during Thursday’s late trade after major benchmark averages finished lower as investors monitored a troublesome bond market recession indicator while awaiting fresh Nonfarm payrolls data for March, set to be released during Friday’s session.
During Thursday’s deals, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 550.46 points or 1.6% to 34,678.36, posting the first negative quarter for stocks in two years. The S&P 500 slid 72.04 points 1.6% to 4,530.42 and the NASDAQ Composite fell 221.8 points or 1.5% to 14,220.52.
Dow Jones Futures added 0.34%, S&P 500 Futures gained 0.34% and Nasdaq 100 Futures added 0.45%.
Technology stocks retreated broadly on Thursday, with Block Inc (NYSE:SQ) down 3.2%, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) fell 2%, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) lost 1.8%, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) dipped 1.8% and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) retreated 2%.
EV manufacturers slipped, with Rivian Automotive Inc (NASDAQ:RIVN) falling 3.4%, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) down 1.5% and Lucid Group Inc (NASDAQ:LCID) declining 4.2%.
Financial heavyweights fell significantly, with JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) down 3%, Citizens Financial Group Inc (NYSE:CFG) losing 3.1%, Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) down 4.1% and Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) losing 2.9%.
Energy companies fell amid declining Crude Oil prices after the White House said it will release an unprecedented amount of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) fell 1.3%, Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) declined 1.4%, Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) dipped 1.6% and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) lost 1.1%.
In extended deals, GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) popped 15.9% after the video game retailer and meme stock announced its intentions for a stock split.
On the bond markets, United States 10-Year yields were at 2.345%, while United States 2-Year yields were last at 2.335% after the 2-year and 10-year Treasury yields inverted for the first time since 2019 during Thursday’s session, signaling that the economy is headed for a possible recession.
On the data front, investors will be looking ahead to Friday’s jobs report, which could give the Fed more confidence in its aggressive rate-hiking plan. Market analysts expect about 490,000 jobs to be added in March, while the unemployment rate is expected to fall to 3.7% from 3.8%. ISM manufacturing PMI and the construction spending report are also set to be released during Friday’s session.