Dow Jones futures were little changed early Thursday, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures. Nvidia chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor and GE Aerospace jumped on strong earnings and guidance. United Airlines reported mixed results. Netflix is due after the close.
Investors will get key retail sales and other key economic data before the open.
The stock market rally stayed strong on Wednesday, with tame PPI inflation data offseting chip-gear giant ASML diving on weak guidance. Reports that President Donald Trump was "likely" to fire Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell hit stocks intraday, but they quickly bounced back on Trump's denial.
Meanwhile, Ferrari broke out while Sea extended Tuesday's bullish move.
Nvidia and Netflix stock are on IBD Leaderboard. Taiwan Semiconductor and Nvidia stock are on the IBD 50. Nvidia stock is on IBD Sector Leaders. Sea was Wednesday's IBD Stock Of The Day.
Dow Jones Futures Today
Dow Jones futures lost 0.2% vs. fair value. S&P 500 futures edged lower and Nasdaq 100 futures rose a fraction.
At 8:30 a.m. ET, investors will get June retail sales, the July Philly Fed manufacturing index and the latest weekly jobless claims.
Remember that overnight action in Dow futures and elsewhere doesn't necessarily translate into actual trading in the next regular stock market session.
Join IBD experts as they analyze leading stocks and the market on IBD Live
Key Earnings
Taiwan Semiconductor earnings were better than expected, fueled by AI and other advanced chips for Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices and more. The world's largest chip foundry also gave strong Q3 and full-year guidance and raised the top end of its capital spending forecast.
TSM stock was modestly higher early Thursday after closing Wednesday at record highs. Nvidia and AMD edged higher.
GE Aerospace also topped second-quarter estimates and raised guidance. GE stock rose a fraction before the open, already at all-time levels.
United Airlines earnings topped but Q2 revenue slightly missed, wile the carrier gave new, lower full-year forecast for a "less certain" world. UAL stock fell modestly in extended trade. Last week, shares jumped above their 200-day moving average following Delta Air Lines results.
Netflix earnings are after Thursday's close. Shares dipped 0.8% on Wednesday, just between the 21-day and 10-week moving averages. NFLX stock tends to make big moves on earnings.
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Stock Market Rally
The stock market rally closed with modest gains on the major indexes. ASML stock weighed on chip-gear makers, but the producer price index came in tame, lifting stocks.
The major indexes briefly skidded on multiple reports that President Trump was likely to fire Fed chief Jerome Powell "soon." But minutes later, Trump said it's "highly unlikely" that he would oust Powell.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% in Wednesday's stock market trading. The S&P 500 index climbed 0.3% after being down 0.7% intraday on the Powell firing report. The Nasdaq composite advanced 0.3% to a record close. The small-cap Russell 2000 gained 1% after tumbling 2% Tuesday.
U.S. crude oil prices dipped 0.2% to $66.38 a barrel.
The 10-year Treasury yield fell three basis points to 4.45%.
ETFs
Among growth ETFs, the Innovator IBD 50 ETF popped 1.75%. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF climbed 0.8%. The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF fell 0.5%, with Nvidia, Taiwan Semiconductor, AMD and ASML all major holdings. ARK Innovation ETF rallied 3.7% and ARK Genomics ETF gained 2.3%.
SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF advanced 0.5%, with Alcoa stock in XME. U.S. Global Jets ETF ascended 0.6%, with United Airlines stock a big component. SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF also stepped up 0.6%. The Energy Select SPDR ETF fell 0.9% and the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund picked up 1.2%.
The Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund was up 0.35%, with GE Aerospace stock the top weighting. Select SPDR ETF rose 0.7%, amid more bank earnings.
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Ferrari Stock Breaks Out
Ferrari stock revved 3.7% higher to 505.30, topping a 503.10 cup-with-handle base buy point. Investors could have bought RACE stock earlier in the day as it topped the July 10 high of 499.06.
Sea stock gained 1.9% to 161.30, after jumping 4.7% Tuesday to break a downtrend in an emerging consolidation and retaking the 50-day line. The Singapore-based internet gaming and e-commerce giant is still in range of the 50-day line. SE stock is on track to have a proper base with a 172.65 buy point after this week.
What To Do Now
The stock market rally remains near record highs. The brief market slide on the Trump-Powell report underscores the potential for big, abrupt market moves on headlines.
A high number of breakouts have struggled or failed in the past few weeks, especially given the general upward market trend. Some recent buying opportunities have worked out just fine, but investors need to understand the current environment.
Again, investors should already be heavily invested, so there's no need to jump at every buy signal. You can make some incremental buys, but largely standing pat makes a lot of sense.
Earnings season adds to the uncertainty for the market and especially specific sectors and individual stocks, such as ASML
Read The Big Picture every day to stay in sync with the market direction and leading stocks and sectors.
Please follow Ed Carson on Threads at @edcarson1971 and X/Twitter at @IBD_ECarson for stock market updates and more.
