Stock futures are little changed ahead of highly awaited inflation data: Live updates

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., Oct. 22, 2025.

Brendan McDermid | Reuters

Stock futures are little changed Thursday night ahead of a key inflation print.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 18 points, or 0.04%. S&P futures ticked up 0.06%, while Nasdaq 100 futures added almost 0.2%.

In after-hours trading, Intel shares popped 7% after the chipmaker reported third-quarter sales that exceeded analysts’ estimates. Target shares rose marginally after the retailer announced it would slash its corporate workforce by 8%, marking its first major layoff in a decade. Applied Materials and Rivian also announced layoffs.

The three major U.S. indexes ended the previous session higher, driven by inflows into tech stocks and bullish sentiment heading into the heat of third-quarter earnings season. The S&P 500 rose nearly 0.6%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 144 points, or 0.3%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite outperformed, closing the day 0.9% higher as heavyweight AI stocks such as Nvidia and Oracle got a boost.

Investors are awaiting Friday’s release of the September consumer price index report, which could be a market-moving event given the lack of federal data being released amid the ongoing U.S. government shutdown. Wall Street will be watching for any signs of inflation cooling or getting hotter, and if tariffs are affecting consumer prices.

The CPI, which was supposed to be released Oct. 15, will be the last economic reading before the Federal Reserve’s October meeting next week. Markets widely expect the Fed to lower interest rates by another quarter percentage point.

“Markets remain cautious, as the lack of clean economic data adds uncertainty for both the Fed and investors,” said Vishal Khanduja, head of broad markets fixed income at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. “Until more reliable data emerges, the Fed is likely to adhere to market-priced expectations, though Friday’s CPI should provide greater clarity. The impact of tariffs creeping into inflation will be key.”

Stocks are on pace to notch weekly gains, after Thursday’s moves erased Wednesday’s losses. The S&P 500 is tracking for a 1.1% gain, while the Nasdaq and the 30-stock Dow are up nearly 1.2% week to date.

Google and Anthropic announce multibillion dollar cloud deal

AI company Anthropic and Google officially announced their cloud partnership Thursday in a deal worth tens of billions of dollars.

The deal, which marks Google’s largest TPU commitment to date, gives Anthropic access to up to one million of Google’s custom-designed Tensor Processing Units, or TPUs, and is expected to bring well over a gigawatt of AI compute capacity online in 2026. The partnership will add over a gigawatt of compute capacity by 2026, supporting Anthropic’s surging $7 billion revenue run rate.

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Google stock performance over the past year.

Intel, Ford, Deckers, Newmont among stocks moving after Thursday’s close

Check out the companies making headlines in after-hours trading:

Alphabet — Shares of search engine giant Alphabet ticked 1% higher after Anthropic and Google officially announced their cloud partnership Thursday. The deal, worth tens of billions of dollars, gives Anthropic access up to one million of Google’s custom-designed Tensor Processing Units, or TPUs.
Ford Motor — Shares of the Detroit automaker jumped 4% in after-hours trading. Ford Motor’s third-quarter earnings results exceeded Wall Street’s expectations, but the company lowered its full-year guidance due to impacts of a fire at an aluminum supplier. Ford reported adjusted earnings per share of 45 cents on revenue of $47.19 billion, while analysts polled by LSEG expected earnings of 36 cents per share on revenue of $43.08 billion.
Target — Shares of the discount retailer rose less than 1% after announcing it would cut its corporate workforce by 8%. The action, which impacts about 1,800 jobs, is its first major layoff in a decade.
Intel — Intel shares jumped about 7% after the chipmaker posted third-quarter sales that beat analysts’ estimates, spurring optimism that demand for the company’s core x86 processors for PCs has recovered. Intel, whose top shareholder is the U.S. government after the Trump administration took a 10% stake in August, reported 23 cents per share in earnings after adjustments. Revenue came out at $13.65 billion, higher than the $13.14 billion estimated by analysts, according to LSEG.