4:20pm: Commodities weaken
Stocks finished the session slightly lower on Thursday, with major indexes drifting into the red as traders balanced geopolitical headlines, energy moves, and a stronger U.S. dollar.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped about 0.4%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each eased roughly 0.3%. In contrast, the Russell 2000 outperformed, rising about 0.7%, suggesting some rotation into small-cap stocks even as broader sentiment stayed cautious.
A key driver of the day was the sharp move in energy markets. Brent crude fell as much as 2% after comments from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggesting that Israel could help the U.S. open the Strait of Hormuz and that the conflict in the region could end sooner than expected. Those remarks helped ease concerns about potential supply disruptions and sparked hopes of de-escalation in the Middle East.
Adding to the downward pressure on oil, the U.S. also moved to authorize the delivery and sale of some Russian crude, a step viewed as part of broader efforts to help stabilize energy prices.
Meanwhile, gold and silver came under heavy selling pressure as the U.S. dollar strengthened, reinforcing a classic inverse relationship between the dollar and precious metals. As Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, put it: precious metals are often seen as inflation hedges, but in practice, investors tend to favor the dollar and U.S. Treasuries when markets are under stress, leaving gold and silver vulnerable to declines.
On the corporate front, investors were watching earnings after the bell from FedEx, which could provide further clues about the health of global shipping demand and broader economic activity.
3:45pm: Proactive news headlines
- Millennial Potash Corp (TSX-V:MLP, OTCQB:MLPNF, FRA:XOD) is advancing its Banio Potash Project in Gabon with ongoing feasibility and environmental studies and plans for drilling to expand its resource base.
- Sintana Energy Inc (TSX-V:SEI, OTCQB:SEUSF, FRA:3ZX1, AIM:SEI) was highlighted as a buy by a broker after securing a licence extension offshore Namibia, supporting potential farm-out opportunities.
- 374Water Inc (NASDAQ:SCWO, FRA:8LL) is preparing to deploy its AirSCWO mobile system in Minnesota, expanding its on-site waste destruction services platform.
- Standard Uranium Ltd (TSX-V:STND, OTCQB:STTDF, FRA:9SU0) signed an exploration agreement with a Métis community group in Saskatchewan to support long-term collaboration in its project area.
- Miivo Holdings Corp (TSX-V:MIVO) received final exchange approval to acquire Tandem Partners, moving closer to completing its strategic acquisition.
3:00pm: Market movers
- Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) shares fell after earnings, as strong AI-driven demand was offset by concerns around near-term margins and conservative guidance.
- Rivian Automotive Inc (NASDAQ:RIVN) shares rose on news of a major investment and autonomous vehicle partnership with Uber.
- Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:CSIQ) shares plunged after a larger-than-expected quarterly loss and significant earnings miss.
- Five Below (NASDAQ:FIVE) reported robust annual results, with strong growth in sales, comparable store performance, and earnings driven by value-focused demand and expansion.
- Intuitive Machines Inc (NASDAQ:LUNR) shares declined after posting a wider-than-expected quarterly loss and missing revenue estimates.
- Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) shares dropped following weaker-than-expected revenue and a sharp decline in profits for the December quarter.
- Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE:SIG) shares surged after beating fourth-quarter earnings expectations and issuing an outlook in line with forecasts despite margin pressures.
2:05pm: OpenAI strikes deal for Astral
OpenAI announced on Thursday that it has reached an agreement to acquire Astral, a startup known for its open source tools for Python developers.
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Astral’s team will join OpenAI to support the development of Codex, OpenAI’s artificial intelligence coding assistant.
The acquisition is intended to expand Codex’s capabilities beyond code generation, enabling AI to assist across the full software development workflow, including planning changes, modifying codebases, running tools, and maintaining software over time.
Astral has developed several widely used Python tools, including uv, which simplifies dependency and environment management; Ruff, a fast linter and formatter; and ty, which helps enforce type safety.
1:15pm: Micron heads lower
Micron Technology shares fell more than 5% in Thursday morning trading after the memory chipmaker reported results and outlook that drew mixed reactions from analysts, who largely pointed to strong fundamentals but flagged near-term margin and pricing dynamics.
The stock move followed Micron Technology’s latest quarterly report released after Wednesday’s market close, which highlighted continued strength in demand tied to artificial intelligence but also guidance that some investors viewed as conservative relative to pricing trends.
Analysts at Bank of America reiterated a “Buy” rating and raised their price target to $500 from $400, citing what they described as a durable memory cycle extending into at least calendar 2027. They pointed to expanding long-term supply agreements, limited cleanroom capacity through 2027–2028, and the growing role of memory in AI-related “token economics” as key structural supports.
“Memory pricing could remain elevated for longer (albeit stabilize),” the firm wrote, highlighting a newly signed five-year strategic supply agreement and increasing visibility from multi-year contracts.
11:45am: Labor market data slightly stronger
Some more economic data dropped today.
US labor market data came in slightly stronger than expected in the latest week, with initial jobless claims at 205,000 versus estimates of 215,000, suggesting fewer new layoffs than anticipated.
Continuing claims, which reflect the number of people already receiving unemployment benefits, rose to 1.857 million, broadly in line with expectations of 1.852 million, indicating a relatively stable but gradually softening labor market.
10:50am: Fed follow
The Federal Reserve’s latest policy decision was broadly in line with expectations, with the central bank holding rates steady and maintaining a cautious stance amid geopolitical uncertainty, including developments in the Middle East.
According to Deutsche Bank, while rate cuts appear less certain, they remain more likely than any hikes.
In its Summary of Economic Projections, the Fed made modest upward revisions to real GDP growth across the forecast horizon, which Deutsche Bank attributed in part to stronger productivity trends. Inflation forecasts were also revised slightly higher over the next two years, while unemployment projections remained largely unchanged. The bank added that median policy rate expectations were little changed from December, despite some compression in the distribution of individual forecasts.
Deutsche Bank also highlighted Powell’s remarks on his tenure, noting he said he would remain on the Federal Reserve Board until a Department of Justice investigation is “well and truly over,” while continuing as Chair pro tempore until a successor is confirmed.
Overall, Deutsche Bank said the Fed’s messaging aligns with its baseline view that Powell effectively delivered his final rate cut last December, with the central bank likely to deliver only one cut this year, potentially in September. It added that persistent labor market stability and inflation concerns could keep the Fed on hold for longer than currently anticipated.
10am: Nasdaq leads losses, tech and miners fall
US stocks have opened in the red, but losses were quickly trimmed and were not as deep as those in Europe.
The Nasdaq was the worst hit, down almost 0.7%, with the Dow and S&P both falling 0.5%.
Worst fallers on the Nasdaq 100 were Micron Technology. down 5,8%, Western Digital, down 3.3%, and Constellation Energy, down 3%.
On the S&P, miners were hardest hit, echoing moves in Europe, with Newmont and Freeport-McMoRan down 8.4% and 7.4%.
8.30am: Wall Street to extend losses as Gulf attacks widen to energy assets
Wall Street looks set to extend losses when trading opens on Thurday, with futures pointing to another broad decline as attacks on Gulf energy sites sent energy prices soaring to three-year highs.
Dow Jones and S&P 500 futures were both down over 0.5% while those for the Nasdaq are pointing to an initial loss of 0.6%.
It would add to a bruising session the day before, when the Dow shed 768 points or 1.6%, the Nasdaq fell 1.5% and the S&P 500 dropped 1.4% as the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged as expected.
Chair Jerome Powell said it was "too soon" to assess the impact of higher oil prices and that "no one knows" what the full effect will be.
Sentiment soured further overnight after Israel struck Iran's South Pars gas field, one of the world's largest, prompting Iran to attack part of Qatar's liquefied natural gas export infrastructure in retaliation.
President Trump distanced the US from the Israeli strike, writing on social media that "the United States knew nothing about this particular attack," and warned Iran against further strikes on Qatar, threatening to destroy "the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field" if Qatar's LNG facilities were hit again.
WTI crude climbed above $99 a barrel, while Brent topped $119 before dropping back below $113 as the Wall Street open approached, despite tensions showing no sign of easing.
Central banks remain in focus around the world, with the Bank of England and European Central Bank both holding rates, but stressing that they were keeping an eye on the impact on inflation from rising energy prices.
In London, the FTSE 100 was down almost 300 points or 2.9%, with the BoE's reaction seen as hawkish and adding to the risk-off mood.