Stock futures were little changed on Thursday morning as investors awaited fresh economic data ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve meeting.
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Futures tied to the S&P 500 (^GSPC) the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) were all hovering near the flatline in pre-market trading.
The Nasdaq 100 snapped a 4-day winning streak on Wednesday as the artificial intelligence infused rally appears to have hit a standstill. The S&P 500 has been chasing bull-market territory all week, needing a close above 4,292.44 to officially mark a 20% rally from the index’s October 2022 bottom.
In single stock moves, Gamestop (GME), a meme stock favorite, reported first-quarter earnings and announced the firing of CEO Matthew Furlong as part of the release. Chairman Ryan Cohen was named CEO. Financially, Gamestop’s first quarter came in worse than Wall Street had hoped for, with revenue of $1.24 billion coming in short of analysts expectations for $1.4 billion.
The company didn’t hold an earnings call, typically an industry standard, to explain its quarterly results or the executive shakeup. Shares of the company fell more than 20% in pre-market trading Thursday.
“We remain convinced that GameStop is doomed, with declining physical software sales and a shift of sales to subscription services and digital downloads sealing its fate,” Wedbush managing director Michael Pachter wrote in a note to clients on Thursday. “While we think that the chain might have some value if run in order to harvest profits, we don’t see a turnaround on the horizon without capable management.”
On the economic front, jobless claims are expected on Thursday morning. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg are expecting 235,000 jobless claims for the week ending June 3. That would mark a slight increase from the 232,000 claims the week prior.
While not considered a major indicator on a weekly basis in the Fed’s decision making, this week’s jobless claims will be one of the final economic data points for the Federal Reserve ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting set to begin next Tuesday. As of Thursday morning, markets are pricing in a 65% chance that the Federal Reserve pauses its historic interest rate hiking campaign at that meeting, per the CME FedWatch Tool.
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WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 19: Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell listens as former Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks at the Thomas Laubach Research Conference on “key issues in monetary policy and the economy” held by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors May 19, 2023 in Washington, DC. Powell and former Bernanke spoke specifically on the topic of “Perspectives on Monetary Policy”. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Josh is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.
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