Tech Jitters Return: S&P and Nasdaq Futures Slip While Dow Holds Up
U.S. equity futures pointed to a split open on the morning of Oct. 20. Bloomberg reported that Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 0.7% as of 7:57 a.m. in New York, while S&P 500 contracts fell 0.3%. A Proactive Investors live blog put the moves at 7:45 a.m. EDT at down 201 points, or 0.68%, to 29,521.50 for Nasdaq 100 futures, down 15.25 points, or 0.20%, to 7,719.25 for S&P 500 futures, and up 39 points, or 0.07%, to 52,221 for Dow Jones futures. An earlier Reuters snapshot cited at 05:20 a.m. ET showed Dow E-minis up 115 points, or 0.22%, S&P 500 E-minis down 6.75 points, or 0.09%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis down 147.75 points, or 0.5%. Yahoo Finance cited Monday evening quotes of S&P 500 futures flat at 7,731.75 points, Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.2% at 29,650.25 points, and Dow futures up 0.1% at 52,230.0 points. In the regular session on Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.1%, while the Dow slipped 0.1%.
No statement had been issued by the White House, the Federal Reserve or the exchange operators about the premarket move. The market was trading on futures quotes and earnings headlines. The Monday rebound followed a rough week in which the Nasdaq declined 4.5% and the S&P 500 lost 2%, while the Dow gained 0.7%, according to Yahoo Finance. In Friday's session covered in the same roundup, the Nasdaq Composite lost 572.99 points, or 2.1%, to close at 26,140.03, the S&P 500 declined 84.62 points, or 1.1%, to 7,659.44, and the Dow fell 175.28 points, or 0.3%, to 52,002.41.
The immediate trigger cited across trading desks was the weak debut of South Korean data-center firm Elice. Bloomberg reported that the Seoul-based neocloud provider plunged as much as 38% intraday before finishing the day with a 32% loss, the worst-ever opening day for a sizable Korean IPO. The company had priced its shares at 90,500 won apiece, the top of the marketed range, raising 201 billion won, about 151 million dollars, for a post-listing market capitalization exceeding 1 trillion won. Shares fell as much as 32% to 61,400 won in early trading on Tuesday. Reuters reported a 28% debut plunge for Elice Group, which raised 201.1 billion won, about 150 million dollars, and said the company provides AI cloud services as well as AI-based education and business software, planning to spend most proceeds on portable modular data centers. CNBC noted that other data-center listings have been shelved, including Nvidia-backed Firmus, Blackstone-backed AirTrunk and SoftBank unit SB Energy.
A rebound in oil compounded the cautious tone. Reuters reported Brent up 1.7% at around 111 dollars a barrel, near a five-month high, on geopolitical risk premium from Houthi attacks on Saudi infrastructure and vessel attacks in the Gulf. Another Reuters report put Brent futures at 111.05 dollars a barrel, the highest since May, trading at 110.80 dollars as of 0810 GMT, up 1.25 dollars or 1.1%. CNBC reported Brent futures climbed 55 cents, or 0.50%, to 110.10 dollars a barrel by 0319 GMT, after rising as high as 110.70 dollars in the previous session, the highest since May 20. Yemen's Houthis said Monday they launched attacks on Saudi energy, airport and military targets, naming an Aramco site in Yanbu, the Shaybah oilfield, Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport and Abha airport.
Reuters reported premarket declines of 3.1% for CoreWeave and 2.9% for Nebius Group, with Apple down 1% and Nvidia marginally lower. TipRanks reported Tuesday premarket falls of 2.83% for IREN, 4.18% for CoreWeave and 3.73% for Nebius Group. Reuters said the pullback followed Monday's rebound, when investors bought back into technology after last week's selloff driven in part by concerns over CoreWeave's debt load and the cost of financing the AI buildout. Attention now turns to earnings after Tuesday's close, with SpaceX set to report for the second time since going public in June, alongside Netflix. Investopedia reported options pricing implied a move of up to 7.5% in either direction by end of week, from around 150 dollars Monday afternoon to as high as 162 dollars or as low as 139 dollars. CoinAlert News reported Wall Street expected revenue of about 12.89 billion dollars, up roughly 65% year over year, and earnings of 14 cents per share versus a nine-cent loss a year earlier, while Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas projected 13 billion dollars in revenue, 6.9 billion dollars in adjusted EBITDA and 19 cents in earnings, with 14.3 million consumer Starlink subscribers at 63.60 dollars per month.