Dow Jones futures edged lower early Thursday, while S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures fell modestly.
AeroVironment, Hewlett Packard Enterprise headlined earnings after the close.
The stock market rally had a narrowly mixed session on Wednesday, with the major indexes all around key levels.
Palantir Technologies, ServiceNow, Coupang, AppLovin, Sea, Costco Wholesale and Tyler Technologies all found support around their 21-day exponential moving averages. All or in or near buy zones.
Nvidia fell 1.7% while Tesla made a strong gain.
Early Thursday, TSLA stock rose modestly to above a key level. Tesla plans to expand Full Self-Driving to China and Europe in the first quarter of 2025, as part of several FSD announcements.
Dow component Verizon Communications will buy Frontier Communications for $20 billion cash or $38.50 a share. That followed a Wall Street Journal report on Wednesday that a deal was close. VZ stock, which sank 3.4% Wednesday on deal buzz, rose a fraction. FYBR stock, up 38% to 38.68 Wednesday, tumbled 9% in premarket trade.
Dow Jones Futures Today
Dow Jones futures edged lower vs. fair value. S&P 500 futures lost 0.2%. Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.4%, even with Tesla offering a boost.
Crude oil futures rose slightly.
Remember that overnight action in Dow futures and elsewhere doesn't necessarily translate into actual trading in the next regular stock market session.
Earnings
AeroVironment earnings easily beat, but the company's reaffirmed guidance was below views. AVAV stock edged higher in overnight action. Shares rose 0.9% in Wednesday's regular session to 194.04. The drone maker has a 224 cup-base buy point. Investors could use 211.44 as a not-quite-handle entry.
HP Enterprise earnings beat fiscal Q3 views and guided up for the full year, but HPE stock fell modestly in premarket action. Shares fell 1.5% to 18.77 on Wednesday, further below a sliding 50-day line.
C3.ai beat views but guided fractionally below views for Q3 revenue. AI stock dived overnight.
AI plays Broadcom and Samsara will be in focus late Thursday.
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Stock Market Rally
The stock market rally had a narrowly mixed session, but bulls were unable to bounce back from Tuesday's sell-off.
July job openings tumbled to a three-year low, adding to renewed growth concerns. Along with dovish comments from a hawkish Fed policymaker, the odds of a big Fed rate cut on Sept. 18 are growing.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% in Wednesday's stock market trading. The S&P 500 index fell 0.2%. The Nasdaq composite declined 0.3%. The small-cap Russell 2000 dipped 0.2%.
The Dow is still modestly above its 21-day line. The S&P 500 and Russell 2000 hit resistance at their 21-day lines but are holding the 50-day, for now.
The Nasdaq, well below those two levels, just undercut the 17,000 level intraday and came close to the low of its Aug. 13 follow-through day. A close below the FTD low would be a highly bearish sign for the stock market rally.
The 10-year Treasury yield sank eight basis points to 3.77%. The two-year Treasury yield, more closely tied to Fed policy, tumbled 12 basis points to 3.77%, though unrounded it's fractionally higher than the 10-year rate. The yield curve has been inverted since June 2022.
Job openings fell to the lowest level since January 2021, while Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, typically a hawkish policymaker, said the central bank "cannot wait until inflation" has fallen to 2%. Along with weaker-than-expected manufacturing data on Tuesday, the odds of a 50-basis-point Fed rate cut on Sept. 18 are now up to 45%.
U.S. crude oil prices fell 1.6% to $69.20 a barrel, the lowest close of 2024. Crude futures have tumbled 8.8% in the last three sessions. Gasoline futures dipped 0.8% and heating oil 2.1%, both the lowest settlements since December 2021.
ETFs
Among growth ETFs, the Innovator IBD 50 ETF rose a fraction. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF dipped 0.2%. ServiceNow stock is a major IGV component, with C3.ai, AppLovin and Palantir also members. The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF also lost 0.2%. Nvidia stock is the largest holding in SMH.
Reflecting more-speculative story stocks, ARK Innovation ETF fell 0.3% and ARK Genomics ETF retreated 1%. Tesla stock is a major holding across Ark Invest's ETFs. Nvidia stock also is a top-10 member.
SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF gave up 0.8%. SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF stepped down 0.4%. The Energy Select SPDR ETF slumped 1.4% and the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund lost 0.2%.
The Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund and Financial Select SPDR ETF both climbed 0.1%.
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Tesla FSD In China, Europe
Tesla aims to roll out Full Self-Driving in China and Europe in the first quarter of 2025, pending regulatory approval. That's according to a Tesla post on Elon Musk's X. In July, Musk had said he expected regulatory approval in those markets by the end of this year.
FSD in China and Europe could offer new revenue streams. In China, with a difficult urban environment, a number of EV makers offer quality driver-assist systems at little or no cost. So Tesla could offer FSD for free or for a nominal sum to maintain sales there without price cuts.
Tesla also confirmed FSD will roll out to the Cybertruck this month.
It also says FSD V13 will be released in October with a major improvement in miles between necessary interventions. FSD deadlines and goals often slip.
The EV giant will hold a robotaxi even on Oct. 10. It's not clear what Tesla will show. Full Self-Driving, despite its name, is a Level 2 driver-assist system.
Tesla stock rose modestly in premarket trade Thursday, signaling a move above the 50-day line. On Tuesday, shares popped 4.2% to 219.41, hitting resistance. TSLA stock has a 271 buy point from a 33%-deep consolidation. Investors could use a decisive move above the 50-day as an aggressive entry, perhaps using the short-term high of 228.22.
Stocks Finding Key Support
Palantir stock edged up 0.3% on Wednesday to 30.59, holding its 21-day line after tumbling to 29.31 intraday, just above the 10-week line. PLTR could offer a buying opportunity, though the market risks are high.
Sea stock climbed 1% to 78.15, staying within a buy zone. Intraday, the Southeast Asian e-commerce and online entertainment company fell to 75.67, undercutting a 76.60 buy point and the 21-day line.
Coupang stock jumped 7% to 23.54, briefly moving above the 23.66 handle buy point. The South Korea e-commerce leader clearly broke the downtrend of the handle.
Tyler stock advanced 1.4% to 586.66 on Wednesday, just below a 593.50 flat-base buy point that it hasn't topped yet.
ServiceNow stock edged down 0.1% while AppLovin dipped 0.3% and Costco climbed 1.3%. All three are finding support around their 21-day lines just below traditional buy points briefly cleared recently.
Nvidia Stock
Nvidia stock fell 1.7% to 106.21 after trading as low as 104.12 and as high as 113.27. Shares fell even with Nvidia denying a report that it's received a Justice Department subpoena regarding an antitrust probe.
NVDA stock plunged 9.5% on Tuesday after skidding 7.7% last week as its earnings report failed to impress.
Nvidia's inability to bounce is not a good sign for the AI leader, or for chip and AI stocks generally.
What To Do Now
The stock market rally is struggling.
It wouldn't take much for the S&P 500 to hit all-time highs. The Russell 2000 could look healthy with a solid session or two. But both are closer to looking significantly damaged. The Nasdaq is already in bad shape.
It's not a time to be buying. If you feel compelled to make new purchases, keep them small and be ready to exit quickly.
With the market rally at key levels, investors need to be ready to act quickly to the upside or downside.
Nvidia stock and ServiceNow are on IBD Leaderboard. Costco and AppLovin stock are on SwingTrader. Palantir stock is on the IBD 50. Tyler Technologies stock was Wednesday's IBD Stock Of The Day.
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