Dow futures slide after Amazon reports results; investors await jobs data: Live updates

Stock futures were slightly lower Thursday evening as January’s big jobs report loomed.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 3 points, or 0.01%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were both near the flatline.

In extended trading, Amazon tumbled 4%. Guidance from the e-commerce giant disappointed investors, as Amazon called for revenue growth of 5% to 9% in the first quarter — its weakest growth on record. The outlook overshadowed top- and bottom-line beats in the fourth quarter.

During Thursday’s main trading session, the S&P 500 rose about 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.5%. It marked the third winning session in a row for the two indexes. The Dow underperformed, dipping roughly 0.3%.

All three major averages are on track to finish the week with modest gains. The S&P 500 is on pace for a 0.7% advance, while the Nasdaq is tracking for a 0.8% jump during the period. The Dow is lagging, with a week-to-date climb of about 0.5%.

Stocks have managed to rebound from Monday’s sell-off, which came after President Donald Trump over the weekend announced 10% tariffs on China. He agreed to pause 25% levies on Canada and Mexico.

The Trump administration will pose a “wild card” for the market, BD8 Capital Partners CEO Barbara Doran said Thursday on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime.”

“There’s going to be add[ed] volatility in the market, particularly with valuations where they are in general for the market,” she said.

Traders’ focus now moves toward January’s jobs report, which is slated for release on Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones are expecting nonfarm payrolls growth of 169,000 for the month, which is lower than the 256,000 jobs added in December. The unemployment rate is also expected to hold steady at 4.1%.

Individual investor bearishness toward stocks climbs to 15-month high, AAII survey says

Individual investors are the most bearish toward U.S. stocks in 15 months, since November 2023, according to the latest weekly survey from the American Association of Individual Investors. Pessimism on the outlook for stocks over the next six months jumped to 42.9% of respondents from 34.0% last week.

The historical bearish average is just 31.0%.

Bullishness toward stocks tumbled to 33.3%, down from 41.0% last week, only the lowest in three weeks, since mid-January. The historical average of bullishness is 37.5%. Those who are neutral on stocks accounted for the balance.

Investors were asked a special question this week, and the majority, 52.5%, said U.S. stocks are overvalued. Slightly more than a third, 36.9%, said valuations are mixed, with some areas expensive and others cheap. Only 7.1% said stocks are fairly valued and 1.4% said stocks are undervalued.

— Scott Schnipper

Maybe we’re living in a ‘Cat in the Hat’ market

The recent interplay among stocks, bonds, currencies and crypto assets might best be described as “Cat in The Hat Markets,” according to Peter Atwater of Financial Insyghts.

In a note out Wednesday responding to last week’s DeepSeek-induced panic and Monday’s brief, tariff-induced slump in stocks, Atwater also described the current market as “The Cat in The Hat Goes to Washington.”

“We’ve reached the point where we have Mom and Dad leave for the day before the markets open,” wrote Atwater, an adjunct professor at the College of William & Mary. “Chaos ensues at 9:30, yet before the market closes and moments before they come back, everything is put back in place. If you like to trade intraday volatility, I suppose it is exciting. What troubles me is that having successfully lived through this experience twice (with DeepSeek and now tariffs), the bulls expect the game to continue. They believe Trump is all bark and no bite. BTFD. It may not be this week or even next, but at some point in the not too distant future, the Cat In the Hat is going to leave a mess, not because he wants to, but because that is the consequence,” Atwater wrote.

— Scott Schnipper

Stock futures open lower Thursday

U.S. stock futures slipped Thursday night.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 49 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures inched down around 0.2% each.

— Hakyung Kim