Dow Jones futures fell early Thursday, along with S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures. Dow giant UnitedHealth Group plunged on a reported criminal probe while Nvidia-backed cloud-computing IPO CoreWeave and China's Alibaba fell solidly on quarterly results. Dow giants Walmart and Cisco Systems rose on earnings.
The stock market rally had a mixed Wednesday, with Nvidia and Tesla continuing to lead and masking some modest underlying weakness. But the broader trend remains highly bullish.
CoreWeave stock is on the IBD 50.
Other News
UnitedHealth tumbled early Thursday after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Dow Jones insurer faces a criminal probe for Medicare fraud. UNH stock dived Tuesday after UnitedHealth warned on medical costs once again and said its CEO was stepping down.
Dick's Sporting Goods will pay $2.4 billion for Foot Locker, confirming a WSJ report. Dick's stock fell while Foot Locker skyrocketed.
Dow Jones Futures Today
Dow Jones futures lost 0.35% vs. fair value, with UnitedHealth hitting blue chips while Walmart and Cisco helped. S&P 500 futures fell 0.45% and Nasdaq 100 futures were down 0.55%.
The 10-year Treasury yield dipped to 4.52%.
Crude oil futures fell more than 3% as President Donald Trump raised hopes of a U.S.-Iran nuclear deal.
Investors also will get a slew of economic data at 8:30 a.m. ET, including April retail sales and PPI inflation, the Philly Fed manufacturing index and 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.
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Key Earnings
CRWV stock fell solidly in premarket trade. CoreWeave reported a big loss but a 420% revenue gain easily beat in its first quarterly report since coming public at $40 a share in late March. The cloud-computing provider guided up on 2025 revenue, but not enough after the Q1 beat. Capital spending plans are high.
Shares ran up 6.6% in Wednesday's regular session to 67.46, hitting a record high. The cloud-computing provider is backed by Nvidia and is a big buyer of Nvidia AI chips.
CSCO stock climbed solidly in overnight action as Cisco earnings beat views and the networking giant guided higher. Cisco dipped 0.8% to 61.29 on Wednesday. Shares are working on a 66.50 consolidation buy point. Investors could use a move above Tuesday's high of 62.24, which would clear resistance over the past couple of months.
BABA stock fell solidly after missing on the quarterly earnings and revenue, signaling a move below a buy point. On Wednesday, Alibaba stock advanced 1.8% to 134.05. On a daily chart, the Chinese e-commerce and cloud-computing giant has a cup base with a 148.43 buy point. On a weekly chart, BABA stock had cleared a 129.73 cup-with-handle buy point, though the handle was wafer thin.
Walmart stock edged higher in premarket trade after beating earnings views and essentially meeting on sales. The discount giant said price hikes from tariffs could start later this month. WMT stock climbed 1% to 96.83 on Wednesday, rebounding from the 21-day line. Shares are back above a 96.03 cup-with-handle buy point on a daily chart. On a weekly MarketSurge chart, the cup-with-handle buy point is 99.74.
Trump's China Tariff Cuts Lift Shipping Stocks, But Uncertainty Remains
Stock Market Rally
The stock market rally showed mixed action Wednesday, pausing after big moves on Trump tariff cuts and AI spending optimism.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% in Wednesday's stock market trading, falling slightly further below the 200-day line. The S&P 500 index edged up 0.1%. The Nasdaq composite climbed 0.7%. The small-cap Russell 2000 declined 0.9%.
Tesla, Nvidia and Google parent Alphabet helped bolster the market.
Decliners led advancers by roughly two-to-one on the NYSE and nearly so on the Nasdaq.
The Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF, less affected by megacaps, fell 0.6%, just above the 200-day line.
The First Trust Nasdaq 100 Equal Weighted Index ETF dipped 0.1%.
A market pause would be perfectly normal and perhaps constructive. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq falling below their 200-day moving averages would be worrisome.
U.S. crude oil prices fell 0.8% to $63.15 a barrel.
The 10-year Treasury yield rose three basis points to 4.53%, the highest close since Feb. 19.
ETFs
Among growth ETFs, the Innovator IBD 50 ETF advanced 0.4%. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF edged up 0.1%. The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF climbed 1%. Nvidia stock is the No. 1 holding on SMH.
ARK Innovation ETF rose 0.3% and ARK Genomics ETF slumped 3.5%. Tesla stock is the top component across ARK Invest's ETFs.
SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF retreated 0.9%. The Energy Select SPDR ETF fell 0.6% and the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund lost 2.35%.
The Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund gave up 0.5% and the Financial Select SPDR ETF dropped 0.3%.
Time The Market With IBD's ETF Market Strategy
Tesla Stock
Tesla stock jumped 4.1% on Wednesday to 347.68, up 26% over the past six sessions. Shares offered an aggressive entry last Friday, as they cleared the 200-day line and several weeks of trading. TSLA stock is extended now.
Shares fell modestly early Thursday.
Nvidia Stock
Nvidia stock popped 4.2% to 135.34, up 16% so far this week. On Tuesday, NVDA stock leaped 5.6%, offering an early entry as it cleared the 200-day line and breaking a trendline. That came as Nvidia said it would sell 18,000 AI chips to Saudi Arabia.
Nvidia stock fell slightly overnight following the strong CoreWeave capital spending forecast.
Dow Jones Futures: What To Do Now
The market took a breather Wednesday, well deserved after big gains to start the week and over the past several weeks.
Investors can still be adding exposure, especially if they're still only modestly invested. But there weren't many buying opportunities Wednesday. And if the market pulls back, newer buys could look shaky.
But there's no reason to lighten exposure, barring individual profit taking or loss taking.
Keep working on watchlists. A market pause could create several new setups.
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