Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq futures fall as Oracle earnings reignite AI spending fears

Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq futures fall as Oracle earnings reignite AI spending fears

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U.S. stock futures sank on Thursday as Oracle ( ORCL ) earnings revived concerns about artificial intelligence trading, taking the wind out of Wall Street’s rally following the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate cut.

Contracts on the S&P 500 (ES=F) and Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) were down 0.8% and 1.2%, respectively. Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) futures, which include fewer technology names, fell more modestly, down 0.4 percent.

Oracle shares lost more than 10% after its quarterly revenue fell short of expectations. That raised fresh concerns about demand for its cloud infrastructure products as investors watched for signs of a broader AI bubble. Oracle’s mounting debt and reliance on OpenAI ( OPAI.PVT ) to meet its high revenue targets have proven a concern for Wall Street.

The broader market finished higher on Wednesday after a divided Fed voted to cut interest rates for the third time this year, narrowing the federal funds target range to 3.5%-3.75%. Policymakers have signaled a more gradual path to easing in the coming months, but Chairman Jerome Powell suggested an interest rate hike would not be on the cards for January as he spoke broadly about the strength of the US economy.

Powell said the Fed is “well positioned to wait and see” how economic conditions evolve, adding that tariffs imposed under President Trump have contributed to inflationary pressures.

Thursday highlights a weekly update on jobless claims, while delayed readings on wholesale inventories and trade sales could garner more attention than usual.

Meanwhile, earnings reports continue with Broadcom ( AVGO ), Costco ( COST ) and Lululemon ( LULU ) all set to report results, rounding out an unpredictable season for AI and retailers.

LIVE 6 updates

  • AM Scan: Netflix, Marvell and Strategy

    Netflix (NFLX) shares rose more than 1 percent in premarket trading Thursday. The streaming service is currently engaged in a bidding war for Warner Bros Discovery ( WBD ) with Paramount Skydance ( PSKY ), and now President Trump has said the sale must include CNN.

    Marvell (MRVL) Shares fell 2% before the bell on Thursday after a report in The Information claimed the chipmaker was at risk of losing orders to Microsoft ( MSFT ) and Amazon Web Services ( AMZN ).

    strategy (MSTR) shares fell 2 percent in premarket trading Thursday. The decline follows bitcoin’s (BTC-USD) decline this morning. Strategy is one of the largest corporate holders of bitcoin.

  • Oracle woes ruin party among assets as traders flock to safety

    Bloomberg reports:

    A market rally after the Federal Reserve’s policy decision came to an abrupt halt within hours as a drop in Oracle Corp. (ORCL) has again raised concerns about technology stock valuations. Now investors are left to wonder if they will still get a Christmas rally.

    The MSCI All Country world index was within striking distance before reversing course, while gold snapped what would have been a three-day winning streak. Earlier gains were a reflection of enthusiasm following the Fed’s latest interest rate cut and Chairman Jerome Powell’s upbeat assessment of the US economy.

    The upbeat mood faded after Oracle shares tumbled on below-consensus sales and a rise in the company’s expenses, which reignited concerns about the technology stock’s expensive valuations. That sent Nasdaq futures (NQ=F) down as much as 1.6% and 10-year Treasury yields (^TNX) down three basis points at one point.

    The rapid reversal in sentiment underscores how stubbornly fears of an artificial intelligence bubble are weighing on investors’ minds, despite a brief rebound in risk appetite fueled by expectations of further Fed easing in recent weeks. Fresh doubts about AI, as well as Powell’s latest suggestion that the Fed has acted enough to help stabilize the labor market, add to the uncertainty in the final weeks of the year.

    Read more here.

  • Novo Nordisk trades as if the obesity drug craze never happened

    Bloomberg reports:

    Shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO, NOVO-B.CO) have fallen so much this year that it’s almost as if the weight-loss drug frenzy that propelled the Danish pharmaceutical company’s meteoric rise never happened.

    Shares have fallen more than 50% so far in 2025, on track for their worst year ever, amid disappointing clinical trial results, multiple profit warnings and intense competition in the obesity drug market. The drop virtually erased several years of stellar gains that came after Novo Wegovy’s drug was approved as a weight-loss treatment in 2021.

    It’s a stunning reversal of fortunes for a company that started this year as Europe’s most valuable listed firm. And with the main compound patent for semaglutide – the key ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic – set to expire in 2032 in the US, some investors are concerned about where future sales growth will come from.

    “When I look at it right now, organically, their pipeline doesn’t convince me that this situation is manageable,” said Paul Major, portfolio manager at Bellevue Asset Management. Major, who sold shares in Novo earlier this year, said the stock will likely continue to fall until investors see a compelling catalyst to reassure them about Novo’s future growth.

    Read more here.

  • Bitcoin Falls Below $90,000 As AI Bubble Fears Redirect Risky Investments

    Reuters reports:

    Read more here.

  • Cisco reaches pre-dot-com levels for the first time in 25 years

    Bloomberg reports:

    Read more here.

  • Oracle sinks after tepid earnings report as revenue disappoints

    Yahoo Finance’s Laura Bratton reports:

    Read more here.

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