S&P, Nasdaq futures tick up as job cuts data released early

[Markets Stabilise After Turbulence Last Week]
Carl Court

Stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open Thursday as the U.S. government shutdown hit Day 2.

Info tech (XLK [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/XLK]) was the biggest sector gainer before the bell, with Nvidia in the green. Some AI enthusiam continues as OpenAI became the world's most valuable startup [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4501157-openai-valuation-employee-share-sale].

The market will be without the usual Thursday jobless claims figures due to the shutdown. But Challenger reported (early due to a possible glitch) a 37% drop in September job cuts [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4501201-job-cuts-fall-37-in-september-ytd-total-higher-than-all-of-2024] form August. But year to date cuts are the highest since 2020, with hiring the lowest since 2009. The report was scheduled to be released at 7:30 a.m. ET.

BY THE NUMBERS

Dow (INDU [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/INDU]) futures hovered near flat, down 11 points, or -0.02%, at 46,429.65. S&P 500 futures (SPX [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SPX]) gained 14.98 points, or 0.22%, to 6,726.18, while Nasdaq 100 futures (US100:IND [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/US100:IND]) outperformed, rising 92.67 points, or 0.37%, to 24,893.53.

The 2-year yield (US2Y [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/US2Y]) ticked up 1.4 basis points to 3.55% and the 5-year (US5Y [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/US5Y]) rose 0.3 bps to 3.68%, while the 10-year (US10Y [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/US10Y]) eased 0.2 bps to 4.10%. The 30-year yield (US30Y [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/US30Y]) also slipped, down 0.6 bps to 4.70%.

Gold (XAUUSD:CUR [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/XAUUSD:CUR]) rose 0.45% to $3,882.38, silver (XAGUSD:CUR [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/XAGUSD:CUR]) added 0.33% to $47.48, while crude oil (CL1:COM [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CL1:COM]) fell 0.55% to $61.44.