4:15pm: Dow, S&P at records
Wall Street kept its momentum going on Thursday, with the Dow and S&P 500 powering to fresh record closes even as the Nasdaq sagged under the weight of an Oracle-driven tech pullback.
The Dow surged 646 points, or 1.3%, to finish at a new all-time high of 48,704, while the S&P 500 inched up 0.2% to its own record at 6,901. Small caps joined the party, with the Russell 2000 climbing 1.1% to 2,588.
The Nasdaq, however, couldn’t hang on. It slipped 0.3% to 23,593, as Oracle’s post-earnings drop revived worries that the AI buildout boom may be getting a little too costly for some tech giants. That cautious mood spread across the sector, leaving it as the day’s weak spot.
Still, broader market sentiment stayed upbeat after Wednesday’s split Fed decision delivered a third rate cut of the year. Policymakers signaled they’re shifting to a slower, steadier easing path, and Chair Jerome Powell all but ruled out a January hike—while also talking up the resilience of the US economy. Investors liked what they heard.
Attention now turns to a busy earnings slate after the bell, with Broadcom, Costco and Lululemon all set to report. Their results could help decide whether Thursday’s optimism carries into Friday.
3:45pm: Proactive news headlines
- Standard Uranium Ltd (TSX-V:STND, OTCQB:STTDF) regained full ownership of its Sun Dog project after its option agreement with Aero Energy concluded.
- OKYO Pharma Ltd (NASDAQ:OKYO) reported that patients in its Phase 2 trial of urcosimod showed improvements in corneal nerve structure, suggesting potential nerve restoration.
- Happy Creek Minerals Ltd. (TSX-V:HPY, OTC:HPYCF) sees an opportunity to advance its high-grade, near-surface Fox Tungsten deposit toward development under new CEO Stephen Gray.
- AtaiBeckley NV (NASDAQ:ATAI, XETRA:9VC) secured a new US patent for EMP-01, its oral R-MDMA formulation, providing expected exclusivity through 2043.
- Century Lithium Corp. (TSX-V:LCE, OTCQX:CYDVF) reported that testing at its Angel Island project in Nevada revealed significant rare earth element recoveries that could become a valuable by-product.
- HIVE Digital Technologies (TSX-V:HIVE, NASDAQ:HIVE) added a listing on the Colombian Stock Exchange to expand investor access across Latin America.
- New Era Energy & Digital (NASDAQ:NUAI) announced progress on engineering, commercial and regulatory work for its Texas Critical Data Centers campus, which is being prepared to support over 1 GW of capacity.
2:50pm: Market movers
- Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL, XETRA:ORC) shares dipped after soft earnings, but analysts said its record $523 billion AI backlog and strong GPU demand point to solid long-term potential.
- Rezolute shares plunged after its Phase 3 sunRIZE trial for congenital hyperinsulinism failed to meet its primary endpoint.
- OKYO Pharma Ltd (NASDAQ:OKYO) reported that patients in its Phase 2 trial of urcosimod showed signs of improved corneal nerve structure, suggesting possible nerve restoration.
- Planet Labs (NYSE:PL) shares jumped after the company delivered better-than-expected quarterly results, with revenue up 33% and strong subscription-based growth.
1:55pm: Time names AI architects Person of the Year
Time magazine has named the “Architects of AI” as its 2025 Person of the Year, recognizing the leading figures behind the rapid advancement of AI.
Key figures featured include Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA, XETRA:NVD) CEO Jensen Huang, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and xAI founder Elon Musk, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META, XETRA:FB2A, SIX:FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD, XETRA:AMD) CEO Lisa Su, Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei, DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis, and AI researcher Fei-Fei Li.
The publication said that the architects were selected for reshaping multiple aspects of society, including hardware innovation, model training, and ethical deployment of AI technologies.
12:50pm: Dow at new record high
Here’s a look at where the major indexes are sitting as the afternoon trading session gets underway:
The Dow has roared ahead 1.2%, hitting a new record high of 48,705 before retreating ever so slightly.
Joining the Dow in record territory is the Russell 2000, which is on track to finish its best-performing week. It’s up 1.1% this afternoon.
That enthusiasm hasn’t spilled over to other major indexes, however. The S&P is virtually flat and the Nasdaq is fighting back from earlier losses but still down 0.6% on concerns over AI spending and valuations.
11:55am: Trade deficit narrows
The US trade deficit in September fell to $52.8 billion, its smallest level since June 2020, as exports surged 3% to $289.3 billion while imports edged up 0.6% to $342.1 billion.
The three-month average deficit dropped to $63.1 billion from roughly $77 billion a year ago, though the year-to-date shortfall remains 17% higher than in 2024. Exports were buoyed by an $8.8 billion increase in goods including pharmaceuticals and gold, while the modest rise in imports contributed to a $6.4 billion improvement from August, exceeding expectations of $62 billion to $63.3 billion.
Trade with China showed improvement, with the deficit narrowing to $11.4 billion, even as gaps widened with Ireland, Mexico, the European Union, and Vietnam. Analysts say the smaller-than-expected deficit could provide a boost to fourth-quarter GDP estimates.
11:15am: Nvidia, Big Tech names lower
Oracle’s miss dragged down other Big Tech names on Thursday morning. Nvidia slipped nearly 3.5%, while Amazon and Alphabet saw their shares fall over 1%.
“While these announced investments in AI from Oracle and others highlight long-term confidence in the technology’s prospects, they also amplify short-term execution risk and capital intensity across the sector,” said Bas Kooijman, CEO and Asset Manager of DHF Capital.
That makes Broadcom’s results, due after the market close today, even more important.
“Any echo of Oracle’s deception could reinforce fears of an excessive AI buildup and trigger broader downside in equity markets,” Kooijman added.
10:40am: Oracle getting pummelled
Shares of Oracle were getting pummelled on Thursday morning after the company missed on revenue and forecast higher spending in the year to come.
Oracle stock was down nearly 14%, wiping out over $100 billion in market cap.
Bank of America said Oracle Corp. is entering the most intensive phase of its AI infrastructure buildout, with spending outpacing revenue growth in the near term. In 3Q, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) revenue rose 69% year-on-year, in line with Street estimates, while capital expenditures reached $12 billion, $4 billion above consensus. Management expects FY26 capex to rise to $50 billion as the company works to monetize its $523 billion OCI AI backlog.
Analysts view the current spend-versus-revenue mismatch as a temporary investment curve issue rather than a change in fundamentals, and reiterated a Buy rating, lowering the price target to $300 from $368.
Bank of America highlighted that Oracle’s core fundamentals remain strong, with AI demand growing rapidly, infrastructure projects on schedule, and flexible OCI architecture able to support diverse computing needs. The company continues to have healthy access to financing and is maintaining investment-grade credit.
Despite recent stock retracement after the OpenAI announcement, BofA sees potential for sentiment and estimates to recover. Key upside catalysts include faster revenue conversion, improved visibility into OCI AI margins, and growing AI-driven momentum across Oracle’s applications and database offerings.
9.55am: AI and semiconductors lead Nasdaq lower at open
Investors moved money out of US tech stocks on Thursday.
It was a mixed picture overall on Wall Street, with the blue-chip Dow Jones up 0.4% and small-cap Russell 2000 up 0.6%, while the more tech-tilted Nasdaq tumb led 1.4% and the broader S&P 500 was off 0.75%.
This continued the trends seen yesterday (and highlighted in the update below).
On the Nasdaq 100, the biggest fallers are Temu owner Pinduoduo, semiconductor tools maker Synopsys, chip designer ARM Holdings and chipmakers Advanced Micro Devices, Broadcom, NVIDIA, all down more than 3%.
Other fallers over 2% include Palantir, with Tesla, Alphabet and Apple all down over 1%.
Top of the Dow leaderboard are Visa, Disney and Home Depot.
8.50am: Decoding the market reaction to the Fed decision
There was a message from the market reaction to the Fed decision, says Kenny Polcari at Slatestone Wealth.
While the S&P gained 0.7%, the Dow Jones, Russell 2000, Equal Weighted S&P and Transports indices all jumped over 1% compared to the Mag 7 rising 0.2%.
"That, boyz and girlz, is not noise, it’s a message," says Polcari.
"When the Dow, the Transports, the Russell, and the Equal Weight S&P all outperform by a wide margin, it tells you that leadership is broadening and that suggests a healthy market.
"Yesterday was not another AI-driven, tech mega-cap melt-up...not because anything is wrong with them, but because investors are finding value in other sectors.
"Cyclicals, industrials, financials, transports – the groups that need real economic activity to thrive — came alive," he says, pointing to basic materials, industrials, financials, healthcare and consumer discretionary all up over 1%, while tech was only up 0.5%, Consumer Staples 0.3%, communications 0.6%, real estate 0.2%, uilities flat.
7.45am: Oracle earnings pressure Nasdaq futures
US stock benchmark futures were in the red on Thursday ahead of the open as investors mulled the previous day's Federal Reserve announcements and Oracle's overnight earnings.
S&P 500 futures were down 0.4% and Nasdaq futures are pointing to a 0.7% decline, which is off the worst seen a few hours ago. Dow Jones futures were just below flat.
The previous day, the Dow had jumped 497 points or 1.1% to 48,058, while the S&P climbed 0.7% to shy of a record close, while the Nasdaq rose 0.3%.
Best of the lot was the Russell 2000, which increased 1.3% to notch a new all-time high at 2,560.
This followed the Federal Open Market Committee cutting its policy rate target by 25 basis points to 3.50-3.75%, as widely anticipated, though there were three dissenters out of the 12 votes, two for a hold and one (President Trump's appointed Governor Stephen Miran) for a larger 50bps cut.
Analysts said new projections from the Fed and chief Jerome Powell's press conference provided mixed signals, though initially led to a decline in US Treasury yields and broad dollar weakening.
Powell emphasised that the FOMC was "well positioned to wait and see how the economy evolves” as recent easing had brought the policy stance "within a broad range of estimates of neutral".
Market analyst Jim Reid at Deutsche Bank noted that the rate cut was accompanied by "implicit signals that the Fed could remain on hold in early 2026", with the 'dot plot' of expected rates showing a median expectation of only one more rate cut in 2026, while the FOMC statement included new wording that signaled a possible pause ahead.
Reid also notes that "cautious guidance was accompanied by several dovish-leaning elements", including a more optimistic tone from updated economic projections, with real GDP revised higher, while inflation forecasts were revised lower.
"The statement also dialed up the tone on the recent uptick in unemployment while Powell sounded a bit more sanguine on upside inflation risks," said Reid.
Earnings from Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL) after the closing bell have seen shares in the database and cloud software group heading for a fall of around 12% in afterhours trading, as strong numbers were not quite strong enough.
"Anyone looking to Oracle for a positive prophecy on the AI sector will have been left feeling disappointed as it struck a conservative tone alongside its latest earnings," said Russ Mould at AJ Bell.
With revenue lower than expected and some big spending on data centre, the market was "in no mood to be forgiving", he said, with disappointment also that revenue forecasts for the current financial year remain unchanged, with borrowing growing at pace.
Oracle’s shares have slumped more than 40% since peaking around the announcement of a $300 billion deal with OpenAI in September.
In other corporate news, Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) has promoted chief operating officer Henrique Braun to chief executive, effective from March.