Stock Futures Mostly Lower After Two Days of Losses; Intel Shares Rise Further on Report Chipmaker Had Discussed Apple Buying Stake

U.S. stock futures were pointing mostly lower ahead of several pieces of economic data Thursday, a day after major indexes ended down for a second consecutive session following three straight record-high closes. 

Futures associated with the tech-heavy Nasdaq and benchmark S&P 500 were down 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively, while those affiliated with the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average were little changed.

Investors will be watching for several economic indicators today, including the final revision to second-quarter GDP, which was revised higher in August. Data for existing home sales, jobless claims, and durable-goods orders also are on tap. Tomorrow, the August reading for the Personal Consumption Expenditures index—the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation metric—is on the docket.

The Nasdaq closed 0.3% lower yesterday, with Micron Technology (MU) shares ending down 2.8% even though the memory-chip maker had posted record quarterly sales after the bell Tuesday. Micron stock was down a further 1.5% in premarket trading. Other tech giants also trading lower before the bell included  Oracle (ORCL), Nvidia (NVDA), and Tesla (TSLA).

However, Intel (INTC) was up a further 3% after jumping more than 6% Wednesday as Bloomberg reported that the chipmaker had discussed Apple (AAPL) buying a stake. Shares of Apple, which last yesterday asked the European Commission to scale back its Digital Markets Act for “forcing us to make some concerning changes to how we design and deliver” products to European customers, edged higher early Thursday.

Shares of Costco Wholesale (COST), which reports quarterly results after the bell, ticked higher in premarket trading.

West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, fell 0.7% to $64.55 after surging more than 2% yesterday. Gold futures, which set another record high early Wednesday before ending about 1.5% lower, were up 0.6% to just below $3,800. 

The 10-year Treasury yield, which affects borrowing costs on a variety of consumer and commercial loans, was flat at 4.15%. Bitcoin fell about 1.5% to roughly $111,600. The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of foreign currencies and hit its lowest level since early 2022 last week, ticked lower to 97.78.