Stock Futures Mostly Fall After Indexes Approach Records on Fed Rate Cut; Oracle Results Drag AI Shares

Stock futures were mostly lower Thursday, a day after major indexes neared closing records following the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut interest rates, as Oracle shares sank following weaker-than-expected revenue, dragging AI-tied stocks. 

Futures associated with the tech-heavy Nasdaq and benchmark S&P 500 were down a respective 0.5% and 0.3%, while those affiliated with the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average reversed earlier losses and were up fractionally.

Yesterday, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq finished up a respective 1.1%, 0.7%, and 0.3% after the Fed cut its key rate to a range of 3.5% to 3.75%. The S&P 500 missed setting a new all-time closing high by fewer than five points, while the Dow was within 200 points of its own and the small-cap Russell 2000 set a new all-time high for a second straight session.

However, after the closing bell Wednesday, Oracle (ORCL) reported higher capital spending and lower revenue and operating income than analysts expected. Shares of the cloud infrastructure giant plummeted 12% before the bell Thursday and were dragging other AI-related firms, including chipmakers Nvidia (NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and Micron Technology (MU), which all were down between 1% and 2%.

Shares of Broadcom (AVGO) were down 1.5% in premarket trading ahead of its earnings report after the closing bell Thursday, while those of Costco Wholesale (COST), which also reports results after markets close today, were slightly higher.

Coca-Cola (KO) stock ticked higher after it said CEO James Quincey would step down in March and be succeeded by operating chief Henrique Braun.

The 10-year Treasury yield, which influences interest rates on a variety of commercial and consumer loans, ticked lower to 4.14% from about 4.15% at Wednesday’s close. Earlier Wednesday, it rose to 4.21%—its highest level since early September.

Bitcoin was trading around $90,300, down from overnight highs of near $92,800. The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of foreign currencies, slipped 0.3% to 98.51, its lowest level since October.

Gold futures advanced 0.4% to $4,240 an ounce, while West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, fell 1.4% to $57.65 a barrel.