People walk outside of the New York Stock Exchange.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
U.S. stock futures opened higher on Thursday night after a volatile session in which the recent tech sell-off resumed.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up by 76 points, or 0.3{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f}. S&P 500 futures gained 0.3{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} along with Nasdaq 100 futures.
The Dow ended the regular session down more than 1{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} along with the S&P 500. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 2{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f}. All three of the major indexes had popped before closing lower.
That whipsaw action came as tech — the best-performing market sector year to date — continued its recent downward trend. Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Alphabet and Microsoft all closed sharply lower on Thursday. Tesla, which was up more than 8{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} at one point, posted a gain of just 1.4{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f}.
Douglas Busch, founder of ChartSmarter.com, said a “hallmark” of a healthy market is closing near its high after a weak start. “The opposite of that action could be the definition of how the benchmarks fared Thursday.”
“Decent early gains quickly faded, and as many stated last week’s lows were critical to hold,” Busch said in a note to clients. “Perhaps, for the first time in a while, we can say advantage bears.”
Thursday’s declines put the S&P 500 down more than 2{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} for the week along with the 30-stock Dow. The Nasdaq, meanwhile, has dropped 3.5{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} week to date.
Another one-week decline would mark the S&P 500’s first back-to-back weekly drop since May. The broader market index was also on pace for its worst week since June 26, when it slid 2.9{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f}.
“The next couple of sessions will be crucial in judging the possible extent of the pullback, and bulls will be looking for signs of positive divergences as the major indices approach their 50-day moving averages,” said Ken Berman, strategist of Gorilla Trades.
In corporate news, Peloton and Oracle rose in after-hours trading on the back of better-than-expected quarterly results. Peloton gained more than 6{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} and Oracle climbed 3.7{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f}.
On the data front, the latest reading on the U.S. consumer price index is set for release Friday at 8:30 a.m.
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