Nasdaq Futures Drop 1.7 Percent as Tesla Slides Before the Bell
S&P 500 futures fell 1 percent and Dow futures slipped 0.6 percent on Thursday morning. Tesla cut its 2026 spending target, chip stocks fell after hours, and oil climbed while gold eased.
Key points
- US stock futures fell on Thursday morning as investors picked through the Tesla and Meta results and the previous day's tech rally lost its push.
- Tesla shares fell nearly 5 percent in premarket trading even though the carmaker beat Wall Street expectations on earnings and revenue.
- Chip stocks added to the drag after hours.
US stock futures fell on Thursday morning as investors picked through the Tesla and Meta results and the previous day's tech rally lost its push. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 1.69 percent to trade near 29,500 in European hours. S&P 500 futures fell 0.97 percent to about 7,720, and Dow Jones futures slipped 0.58 percent to near 52,750.
Tesla falls even after a beat
Tesla shares fell nearly 5 percent in premarket trading even though the carmaker beat Wall Street expectations on earnings and revenue. The problem, analysts said, was the spending plan. Deutsche Bank noted that Tesla cut its 2026 capital spending target from 25 billion dollars to 20 billion dollars, a move that raised questions about how fast the company can move into AI and robotics. Meta shares were down 0.36 percent after the company reported stronger than expected third quarter revenue and gave a positive outlook for the current quarter.
Chip stocks added to the drag after hours. Intel and Marvell Technology each fell more than 5 percent, Micron Technology lost 3.5 percent, Qualcomm fell 2.94 percent and Nvidia slipped 2.2 percent, as traders questioned whether the latest AI earnings justify the sector's valuations and heavy spending plans.
A rally that ran out of road
The slide follows a strong regular session on Wednesday, when the Dow Jones rose 0.69 percent, the S&P 500 gained 0.58 percent and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.05 percent, helped by strong results from SpaceX and Super Micro Computer. Asian markets then closed sharply lower on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei down 2.65 percent and South Korea's Kospi down 3.52 percent, and European indexes opened lower and fell further through the morning, with the Stoxx Europe 600 down 2.1 percent.
Oil up, gold down
Energy prices moved the other way. Brent crude rose 2.5 percent to 110.50 dollars a barrel and US crude gained 1.9 percent to 99.02 dollars, as the fighting in the Gulf and new reporting on possible US and Israeli strikes on Iran kept a risk premium in the market. Gold fell 1.3 percent to 4,086 dollars an ounce.
What traders watch next
Attention now turns to Thursday's earnings, with Procter and Gamble, Western Digital and Lockheed Martin among the big names reporting, and to whether the opening bell confirms the futures slide or bargain hunters step in after a two day round trip in tech shares.