Futures tied to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq regained some ground on Thursday on the final trading day of the week, with focus on U.S.-Japan tariff talks, while UnitedHealth's shares fell sharply following a forecast cut by the insurer.
Market Snapshot
At 7:40 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 622 points, or 1.56%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 17.25 points, or 0.33%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 110 points, or 0.60%.
Pre-Market Movers
UnitedHealth dropped 20% in premarket trading after first-quarter adjusted earnings at the giant health insurer missed analysts' expectations and the company cut its 2025 guidance. UnitedHealth said it expects adjusted earnings in 2025 in the range of $26 to $26.50 a share compared with an earlier range of $29.50 to $30 a share that was provided in December 2024. The change was partially driven by "heightened care activity indications within UnitedHealthcare's Medicare Advantage business," as utilization rates of physician and outpatient services were higher than expected in the quarter, the company said.
Eli Lilly shares surged 11% following data showing its experimental pill helped diabetic patients lose similar amounts of weight to injectable GLP-1 medications, bringing it one step closer to becoming a needle-free alternative to weight-loss shots.
Nvidia was down slightly in the premarket session. The chip company closed down 6.9% to $104.49 on Wednesday and lost $188 billion in market cap following a warning it would record a $5.5 billion charge in the first quarter after the U.S. Department of Commerce said the company would need a license to export H20 processors to China and other countries. The stock has fallen three of the last five trading sessions and coming into Thursday has declined 22% this year.
Advanced Micro Devices rose 0.4%. The chip maker finished down 7.4% on Wednesday as the U.S. government said it would require licenses for the export of AMD's MI308 AI chips.
U.S.-listed shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing were up 3.2% in premarket trading after the Taiwanese chip maker reported a 60% jump in first-quarter profit and said so far it hasn't suffered a hit from tariffs. "Moving into second quarter 2025, we expect our business to be supported by strong demand for our industry-leading 3nm [nanometer] and 5nm technologies. While we have not seen any changes in our customers' behavior so far, uncertainties and risks from the potential impact from tariff policies exist," said Wendell Huang, TSMC's chief financial officer.
Chinese ETFs and ADRs jumped in premarket trading. Fangdd up 7%; YINN, Alibaba up More Than 4%; PDD Holdings, JD.com, Li Auto up over 1%.
Tesla rose 0.2% in premarket trading after declining 4.9% on Wednesday Shares of the electric-vehicle company have fallen 4.2% for the week. The U.S.-China trade war and inflation have weighed on investor sentiment.
American Express rose 0.6%. First-quarter profit rose 6% from a year earlier and topped analysts' forecasts as the credit card company's cardholders, who tend to be affluent, increased spending.
D.R. Horton, the nation's biggest home builder, was down 3.3% after missing quarterly earnings and sales expectations and reducing its full-year guidance as home buyers sat on the sidelines.
Alcoa fell 1.8% after the aluminum producer reported first-quarter adjusted profit that handily topped Wall Street estimates but revenue of $3.37 billon that missed forecasts of $3.51 billion. Alcoa said it incurred about $20 million in costs on tariffs related to imports of aluminum from Canada after a 25% tariff on global imports of steel and aluminum went into effect in mid-March. It expects tariff costs to increase to $90 million in the second quarter.
Kinder Morgan, the energy infrastructure company, reported first-quarter adjusted earnings and revenue that missed Wall Street estimates. The company said "at this point" it doesn't "believe that the tariffs will have a significant impact on project economics." The stock was up 0.8% in premarket trading.
First-quarter earnings and revenue at CSX fell from a year earlier with the railroad operator saying it "faced operational challenges to start the year," which contributed to first-quarter results that didn't meet its expectations. Earnings of 34 cents a share missed analysts' estimates of 37 cents. The stock rose 0.7%.
Costco Wholesale raised its quarterly dividend to $1.30 a share from $1.16. Shares of the warehouse retailer were up 0.5%.
Netflix is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings after the closing bell Thursday. Analysts expect the streaming company to post adjusted profit of $5.69 a share on revenue of $10.51 billion. The report will be the first in which Netflix doesn't include subscribers numbers. Netflix posted a net gain of 18.9 million paid subscriptions during the fourth quarter, greatly beating projections. Shares rose 1.1%.
Market News
Nvidia CEO Stresses Importance of China Market in Beijing Visit
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on Thursday that China was a very important market for Nvidia after the U.S. imposed a ban on sales of its H20 artificial intelligence chips to the country.
"We hope to continue to cooperate with China," Huang said in a meeting with Ren Hongbin, head of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, according to China state broadcaster CCTV.
Trump Says Powell’s “Termination Cannot Come Fast Enough,” as He Points to ECB Rate Cuts
U.S. President Donald Trump said the Federal Reserve should follow the example set by the European Central Bank Thursday as he stepped up his criticism of Chair Jerome Powell.
“The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, ‘Too Late’ Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete ‘mess’…Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
