Source: Sharecast
As of 1445 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.15% at 45,496.14, while the S&P 500 also shed 0.15% to 6,471.49 and the Nasdaq Composite came out of the gate 0.17% weaker at 21,2552.45.
The Dow opened 69.09 points lower on Thursday, taking a bite out of gains recorded in the previous session despite nervousness ahead of Nvidia's second-quarter earnings and uncertainty surrounding the future of the Federal Reserve.
Nvidia's Q2 earnings beat Wall Street expectations, with revenue rising 56% year-on-year to $46.7bn and net income surging 59% to $26.4bn, driven by continued strength in AI infrastructure demand, particularly for its Blackwell GPU architecture, which saw a 17% sequential increase in data centre revenue. However, total data centre sales of $41.1bn fell short of analyst projections, reflecting the lingering impact of export restrictions to China and inventory adjustments. Despite the earnings beat, Nvidia shares dipped around 3% in after-hours trading, as investors reacted to the modest shortfall in data centre performance and tempered forward guidance.
Also rumbling on in the background were ongoing concerns that the Fed could be opened up to direct political manipulation after Donald Trump told governor Lisa Cook that she was fired earlier this week, a move that Cook plans to challenge in the courts. Trump's top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, told Cook that she should go on leave from the central bank even with her plans to file a lawsuit. Cook's departure would increase the influence of the president's appointees on the board.
On the macro front, the US economy grew more than initially estimated in the second quarter, according to figures released on Thursday by the Commerce Department. A second estimate revealed that gross domestic product expanded at an annualised rate of 3.3%, up from an initial estimate of 3% growth. This followed a 0.5% contraction in the first three months of the year. The Commerce Department said the revision to Q2 GDP mainly reflected upward revisions to investment and consumer spending that were partly offset by a downward revision to government spending and an upward revision to imports.
Elsewhere, Americans lined up for unemployment benefits at a decelerated pace last week, according to fresh data from the Department of Labor, though underlying trends suggest the US labour market remains in a holding pattern. Initial jobless claims fell by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 229,000 in the week ended 23 August, slightly below consensus forecasts of 230,000, while continuing claims, which track those still receiving benefits, dipped by 7,000 to 1.954m in the prior week. The four-week moving average, which aims to strip out week-to-week volatility, increased to 221,750, up 4,500 from the previous print, reflecting a gradual uptick in claims over the past month.
Still to come, July pending home sales were slated for release at 1500 BST, while the Kansas Federal Reserve's August manufacturing index will follow at 1600 BST.
In the corporate space, Best Buy reported an unexpected rise in Q2 sales on Thursday, underpinned by a robust online performance and heightened demand for AI-enabled devices, but shares in the US electronics retailer slipped in pre-market trading after it opted to leave FY sales and profit guidance unchanged, while Dick's Sporting Goods beat Wall Street expectations on both the top and bottom lines and raised its FY sales and earnings guidance as it saw growth in both average tickets and transactions.
Still to come, Dell and Marvell were both scheduled to report their most recent quarterly figures after the close.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com
Dow Jones - Risers
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $252.56 3.62%
American Express Co. (AXP) $323.52 0.91%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $68.93 0.72%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $302.17 0.58%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $24.98 0.50%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $433.37 0.49%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $243.80 0.48%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $158.11 0.48%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $508.54 0.35%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $751.50 0.34%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $83.44 -1.82%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $309.92 -0.97%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $174.90 -0.90%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $285.40 -0.89%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $78.36 -0.37%
Visa Inc. (V) $350.09 -0.31%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $95.83 -0.23%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $68.59 -0.20%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $270.40 -0.18%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $43.89 -0.17%
S&P 500 - Risers
Kohls Corp. (KSS) $16.28 24.85%
CenturyLink Inc. (LUMN) $5.51 17.48%
Coty Inc. Class A (COTY) $4.16 12.60%
VF Corp. (VFC) $15.54 7.02%
HP Inc (HPQ) $28.49 5.46%
Albemarle Corp. (ALB) $85.53 4.91%
Gap Inc. (GAP) $22.57 4.59%
Brown Forman Corp. Class B (BF.B) $31.18 4.46%
Alaska Air Group Inc. (ALK) $62.81 4.13%
Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (BFH) $66.46 4.08%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Hormel Foods Corp. (HRL) $23.86 -17.04%
Bath & Body Works, Inc. (BBWI) $29.74 -5.15%
J. M. Smucker Co. (SJM) $105.87 -4.26%
Revvity, Inc. (RVTY) $88.95 -2.50%
NextEra Energy Inc. (NEE) $73.07 -2.36%
Kroger Co. (KR) $67.40 -2.30%
American Tower Corp (Reit) (AMT) $202.73 -2.28%
Dollar General Corp (DG) $108.02 -2.24%
Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) $163.46 -1.93%
Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc (ZBH) $105.46 -1.93%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Qvc Group Inc Series A (QVCGA) $7.13 13.54%
Trip.com Group Limited (TCOM) $71.35 9.27%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $121.01 2.77%
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) $308.07 2.60%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $125.24 1.66%
Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP) $67.54 1.33%
Synopsys Inc. (SNPS) $610.91 1.28%
Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) $289.22 1.14%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $136.55 1.10%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $81.52 1.06%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $11.77 -2.40%
JD.com, Inc. (JD) $30.11 -2.30%
Biogen Inc (BIIB) $134.65 -1.25%
Liberty Global plc Series C (LBTYK) $11.86 -1.25%
eBay Inc. (EBAY) $92.51 -1.24%
Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (BMRN) $57.95 -1.21%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $11.65 -1.19%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $285.40 -0.89%
Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC) $27.64 -0.89%
Hologic Inc. (HOLX) $66.15 -0.87%