Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq futures fall as Oracle earnings reignite AI spending fears

Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq futures fall as Oracle earnings reignite AI spending fears

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US stock futures sank on Thursday as Oracle ( ORCL ) earnings raised concerns about AI trading, taking the wind out of the Wall Street rally that followed the Federal Reserve’s latest rate cut.

Contracts on the S&P 500 (ES=F) and the Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) fell 0.8% and 1.2%, respectively. Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) futures, which include fewer tech names, saw a more moderate decline, down 0.4%.

Oracle stock lost more than 10% after its quarterly revenue fell short of expectations. That raised fresh concerns about demand for its cloud infrastructure products, as investors looked for signs of a wider AI bubble. Oracle’s mounting debt and reliance on OpenAI ( OPAI.PVT ) to meet its lofty revenue targets have shown concern for Wall Street.

The broader market ended higher on Wednesday after a divided Fed voted to cut interest rates for the third time this year, narrowing the federal funds target range to 3.5%–3.75%. Policymakers have shown a more gradual path of tapering in the coming months, but President Jerome Powell hinted that a rate hike will be off the table for January, while generally speaking about the health of the US economy.

Powell said the Fed is “well positioned to wait and see” how economic conditions evolve, adding that tariffs imposed under President Trump have contributed to inflationary pressures.

Thursday puts the spotlight on a weekly update on jobless claims, while delayed readings on wholesale inventories and trade sales may draw more scrutiny than usual.

Meanwhile, earnings reports continue with Broadcom ( AVGO ), Costco ( COST ) and Lululemon ( LULU ) all set to release results, capping an unpredictable season for AI and retailers.

LIVE 4 updates

  • Novo Nordisk is trading as if the obesity drug craze never happened

    Bloomberg reports:

    Shares in Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO, NOVO-B.CO) have fallen so much this year that it’s almost as if the weight-loss drug frenzy that drove the Danish pharmaceutical company’s meteoric rise never happened.

    Shares are down more than 50% so far in 2025, on track for their worst year yet, amid disappointing clinical trial results, multiple earnings warnings and intense competition in the obesity drug market. The drop virtually erased several years of stellar gains that came after Novo’s drug Wegovy was approved as a weight loss treatment in 2021.

    It’s a stunning reversal of fortunes for a company that started this year as Europe’s most valuable listed firm. And with the key compound patent for semaglutide — the main ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic — set to expire in 2032 in the US, some investors are concerned about where future sales growth will come from.

    “When I look at it now, organically, their pipeline doesn’t convince me that this situation is manageable,” said Paul Major, portfolio manager at Bellevue Asset Management. Major, who sold shares in Novo earlier this year, said the stock will probably continue to decline until investors see a compelling catalyst to reassure them about Novo’s future growth.

    Read more here.

  • Bitcoin drops below $90,000 threshold as AI bubble fears redirect risky investment

    Reuters reports:

    Read more here.

  • Cisco reaches pre-dot-com crash levels for the first time in 25 years

    Bloomberg reports:

    Read more here.

  • Oracle sinks after tepid earnings report as revenue disappoints

    Yahoo Finance’s Laura Bratton reports:

    Read more here.

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