Updated 2 min read
US stock futures moved lower on Thursday, retreating from all-time highs as investors braced for another labor data update and grappled with President Trump’s salvos on defense and Venezuela.
Nasdaq 100 futures (NQ=F) dropped 0.2%, setting the tech-heavy index up for its first loss this week. S&P 500 futures (ES=F) also shed 0.2%, signaling a further pullback from record territory, while those on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) fell 0.4% on the heels of a rocky session.
Defense stocks are rebounding in premarket after Trump said he wants to boost military spending by 50%, to $1.5 trillion a year. They had taken a bruising on Wednesday, also thanks to Trump, who threatened to block share buybacks and dividend payments by US defense majors if they didn’t invest in ramping up weapons operations. Northrop Grumman (NOC) and Lockheed Martin (LMT) both gained around 8% in premarket.
More broadly, markets are treading cautiously amid a flurry of labor market updates. The latest update on job cuts from the firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed the jobs market got a “positive sign” to end a rather gloomy year, with planned layoff announcements hitting their lowest level of 2025 in December.
Wall Street has also this week taken in updates on private payrolls and another government report that found “anemic” rates in hiring. All of this data sets the stage for Friday’s jobs report for December, key to the Federal Reserve’s policy decisions.
At the same time, potential geopolitical flashpoints are still high on the agenda, with US oil-focused strategy on Venezuela and Greenland in high focus. Trump said the US could oversee Venezuela and control its oil revenue for years, speaking in a New York Times interview and echoing the US energy secretary’s view that America be in the driving seat “indefinitely going forward.”
Also on investors’ radar is a potential Supreme Court decision on the legality of tariffs imposed under Trump. Friday scheduled as an opinion day, offering the first chance for a legal retort to the levies.
LIVE 12 updates
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China reportedly set to approve some Nvidia H200 chip sales
Bloomberg reported Thursday that China is set to approve some imports of Nvidia’s H200 chips.
Trump said the US will lift export restrictions on Nvidia’s H200 AI chips in December in exchange for a cut of its revenue, but concerns persisted that the Chinese government would not allow homegrown tech firms to purchase those chips.
Reuters reported Thursday that Nvidia will require full upfront payment from its Chinese customers for H200 chips, an unusually stringent term meant to hedge against uncertainty over whether Beijing will approve sales.
Stifel analyst Ruben Roy said in a note to clients that H200 sales to China would be “materially additive to earnings for NVDA.”
“In our view, China is a swing factor to the positive for NVDA, with sell-side and buy-side models not counting on these sales just yet.”
Shares in the chipmaker were flat in premarket trading.
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December job cuts sink to lowest in 17 months
December job cuts tallied 35,553, their lowest level since July 2024, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas’ report Thursday.
Still, the 1.2 million job cuts in 2025 as a whole marked a 58% increase from 2024. The government led all industries in job cuts, with more than 308,000 reductions that primarily occurred in the first quarter. Technology jobs were the most affected in the private sector, with over 154,000 reductions.
DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency), tariffs, and AI were cited as reasons for cuts in 2025, according to the report.
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Jobless claims fall below expectations
Initial unemployment insurance claims for the week of Jan. 3 rose to 208,000 from 199,000 the previous week.
The latest figure released by the Department of Labor on Thursday was below economists’ expectations for 212,000 jobless claims.
Weekly jobless claims — released with a shorter lag than other employment data, which have been particularly delayed from the government shutdown last fall — provide a timely window into the current state of the labor market.
On Wednesday, labor market data from private payroll processor ADP showed the labor market stabilizing at the end of 2025.
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AI, chips, and robots dominated CES 2026. It’s just the beginning.
Yahoo Finance’s Daniel Howley is on the ground at the Las Vegas Convention Center for CES 2026, taking in the staggering number of tech announcements and perusing the gadgets on display. Here are his takeaways from tech’s biggest event of the year:
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Good morning. Here’s what’s happening today.
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Premarket trending tickers: Palantir, Apple, and Globus Medical
Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR) stock edged higher by 2% on Thursday after receiving a Buy rating. Executives at BofA Securities reiterated their Buy rating and $255 price target.
Apple (AAPL) stock fell 1% before the bell on Thursday after news that JPMorgan Chase (JPM) had agreed to take over the Apple credit card portfolio from its current issuer, Goldman Sachs (GS).
Globus Medical, Inc. (GMED) stocks jumped 9% during premarket trading following the preliminary release of its Q4 results and a 2026 outlook that both beat analysts’ expectations.
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Defense stocks recover after Trump says he wants to boost military spending
US defense stocks turned higher in premarket after promises and threats from President Trump sent them on a wild ride.
After market close, Trump said he wanted to boost US military spending by over 50% to $1.5 trillion, which would be funded by proceeds from tariffs.
The proposal appeared to revive investor appetite for shares of major defense contractors, which slumped on Wednesday after Trump vowed to block them from buying back shares and paying dividends until they step up production of military equipment.
Shares in Northrop Grumman (NOC) and Lockheed Martin (LMT) both popped about 7% before the bell, after closing about 5% lower on Wednesday.
RTX (RTX), singled out by Trump as particularly slow to invest in development, put on 4%, while General Dynamics (GD) was up 5%, set to retrace declines.
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US oil groups warn they will need guarantees to invest in Venezuela
Shares of Big Oil companies such as Chevron (CVX), ConocoPhillips (COP), and Exxon Mobil (XOM) edged higher after meeting with the Trump administration on Wednesday in Miami after the US arrested Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro over the weekend.
Per the Financial Times, US oil companies said in the meeting that they need “serious guarantees” from Washington before they make any investments in Venezuela. This comes as President Trump urges them to back his bid to help reshape the energy sector.
Trump is also planning to hold a meeting on Friday with executives from some of the country’s biggest energy groups, where the president is expected to be quizzed on whether the administration will provide strong legal and financial guarantees before they commit capital to Venezuela, according to the FT.
Trump said earlier this week that US oil companies would be “reimbursed” if they invested in Venezuela but most executives remain cautious.
“No one wants to go in there when a random fucking tweet can change the entire foreign policy of the country,” said one private equity investor who specializes in energy.
Halliburton Company (HAL) and SLB (SLB), which both provide products and services to the energy sector, saw their shares rise on Thursday before the bell.
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Global copper squeeze is set to intensify on AI and defense spending, S&P says
The world is set to face a critical copper (HG=F) shortage, driven by a boom in AI and defense spending, according to S&P Global.
Growth in those sectors will boost global demand by 50% by 2040, but supplies are likely to miss meeting that appetite unless there is more recycling and mining, the consultancy said.
Copper has been on a powerful rally as output gravitates to the US amid concerns that President Trump’s tariffs will dry up supply. That has sparked a bidding war with Chinese industrial buyers also dependent on the metal.
Bloomberg reports:
Demand growth is accelerating just as mine supply faces structural limits, raising the risk that copper becomes a bottleneck for economic growth and technological expansion, S&P Global wrote Thursday in a report backed by the mining industry.
Demand from AI, data centers and global defense spending could roughly triple by 2040, adding 4 million tons of consumption combined, the study found.
… S&P Global sees global copper demand rising 50% from today’s levels to 42 million metric tons by 2040. While traditional sources such as construction, appliances, transportation and power generation continue to account for most copper demand, the biggest share of growth is coming from energy-transition uses including electric vehicles, renewable power, batteries and grid expansion.
Newer sources of demand are also gaining scale. Copper consumption tied to data centers and artificial intelligence infrastructure is expected to surge as global installed data-center capacity increases almost fourfold by 2040.
… S&P Global also identified another potential source of demand: humanoid robots.
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Gold, silver fall as annual rebalance set to shake commodities
Bloomberg reports:
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Samsung Electronics quarterly profit reaches record high after tripling on AI memory demand
Bloomberg reports:
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Alphabet overtakes Apple in market cap for first time since 2019
Alphabet (GOOG) closed Wednesday by overtaking Apple (AAPL) in market value, marking the first time since 2019 that Google’s parent company has been worth more than the iPhone maker. Both companies trail Nvidia (NVDA) by over $700 billion.
Alphabet closed Wednesday with a market capitalization of roughly $3.88 trillion after its shares climbed more than 2% to finish at $322.03. Apple, by contrast, ended the session valued at about $3.84 trillion, weighed down by a recent sell-off that has pushed the stock down by nearly 5% over the past five days.
The shift highlights how differently the two tech giants are positioned in the rapidly evolving artificial intelligence landscape. Alphabet capped off 2025 as one of Wall Street’s strongest performers, fueled by a series of AI-focused wins that reshaped investor sentiment.
Alphabet shares surged 65% in 2025, their biggest annual gain since 2009. Apple, meanwhile, has struggled to convince investors it can lead in AI. A long-awaited upgrade to Siri was delayed, with a revamped version now promised for 2026.
