A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
NYSE
U.S. stock futures were little changed on Thursday as investors kept an eye on the artificial intelligence trade as names in the space reach eye-watering valuations. Traders were also looking at Washington, as the Supreme Court heard arguments over the legality of the Trump administration’s tariffs.
S&P 500 futures ticked up 0.1% along with Nasdaq 100 futures. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 6 points.
October saw a significant number of layoff announcements. Job cuts for the month totaled 153,074, marking an increase of 183% from September and 175% from the year-ago period, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. That’s the highest level recorded for an October in 22 years. Not only that, 2025 is the worst year for layoffs since 2009.
Before the bell Thursday, Nvidia shares rose more than 1% However, Qualcomm shed more than 1%, even after the chipmaker posted better-than-expected quarterly results.
Investors increasingly expect the Supreme Court to rule against the Trump administration’s aggressive trade policy after high court justices on Wednesday expressed some skepticism about the trade taxes’ legality. The potential ruling would trigger a rollback of the president’s tariffs, likely pushing stocks higher.
AI-linked equities have also begun rebounding from valuation concerns that swirled earlier this week—another potential boon for the major indexes.
Advanced Micro Devices closed more than 2% higher on Wednesday, after the semiconductor company reported better-than-expected third-quarter results. The performance pulled up some other AI stocks alongside it, including Broadcom and Micron Technology, which jumped 2% and 9% on the day, respectively. Oracle also recouped some recent losses during the session.
The recovery of the AI names helped the market bounce back on Wednesday following a soft start to the week that has all three major U.S. indexes in the red week to date.
“We’re still very early in the AI super-cycle,” Dynasty Financial Partners’ Shirl Penney told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Wednesday. “There’s going to be continued significant capex, not just with some of the ‘Mag Seven,’ but also you see it with large financial firms like Schwab, JPMorgan and others.”
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