Dow Jones Today: Stock Futures Point to Mixed Open as Earnings Reports Roll In; UnitedHealth Weighs on Dow

Stocks were wavering between slight gains and losses in early trading Thursday as investors reacted to a barrage of quarterly earnings reports.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2% about half an hour after the opening bell, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite each slipped 0.1%. Major indexes turned in their best one-day performance in more than two months on Wednesday, when better-than-expected inflation data revived hopes that the Federal Reserve will continue cutting interest rates and several large banks reported strong quarterly results.

Bank earnings are in focus again this morning. Shares of Morgan Stanley (MS) were up nearly 2% after the financial services giant’s results beat Wall Street expectations, while Bank of America (BAC) was up fractionally after its earnings topped estimates. U.S. Bancorp (USB) and PNC Financial Services Corp. (PNC) were both down 5% and 3%, respectively, after reporting results.

Chip stocks were gaining ground this morning after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM), the world’s largest contract chip manufacturer, posted better-than-expected earnings and issued a bullish outlook for AI demand. Chip equipment makers KLA Corp (KLAC), Lam Research (LRCX) and Applied Materials (AMAT) each rose more than 3%, while U.S.-traded shares of Taiwan Semi advanced 6%.

Mega-cap technology stocks, which were among the big gainers yesterday, were mostly lower in early trading Thursday, though AI chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) was up 0.8%. Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT),Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Meta Platforms (META) and Tesla (TSLA) were all losing ground.

Shares of UnitedHealth Group (UNH) were down 3% after the company reported disappointing quarterly results. Other health stocks, including CVS Health (CVS) and Humana (HUM), were also losing ground.

On the economic front, weekly jobless claims figures and monthly retail sales data came in largely as expected. Investors are keeping a close eye on economic indicators as they look for information that could affect the Fed’s decision-making on interest rates in the months ahead.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which is correlated with expectations for interest rates, was at 4.68% this morning, up from 4.65% late Wednesday. The yield recorded its biggest decline since August on Wednesday in reaction to the encouraging inflation data.

Bitcoin was at $98,000, down from an overnight high of $100,800. The digital currency surged above $100,000 yesterday for the first time in more than a week.

Gold futures were up 1.1% at $2,750 an ounce, while WIT crude oil futures fell 0.5%.