Stock futures are little changed after blue-chip Dow posts new record close: Live updates

Swiss investment firm Partners Group is set to become a majority shareholder in power solutions provider AVK as more businesses look to acquire firms that can help power the data center buildout.

Power supply solutions provider AVK said Thursday it has secured an initial investment of over $1 billion from Partners Group. CEO Ben Pritchard will retain a “significant” shareholding and will keep his post alongside the existing leadership, the firm said in a statement.

Partners Group shares edged higher in morning trade and were last seen up 1.2%.

“Speed-to-power is now a defining opportunity for European data centre operators,” Pritchard said. “Our new partnership with Partners Group will allow us to meet our customers exactly where the market demands.”

Private equity firms are increasingly investing in the energy sector and the infrastructure needed to power the AI boom.

“AI is driving one of the largest infrastructure buildouts in decades, and access to power is becoming a defining constraint,” said Nicholas Pepper, managing director of infrastructure at Partners Group. He added that onsite generation is key to alleviating one of the critical bottlenecks holding back the European data center market.

— April Roach

• Dow futures and S&P 500 futures rose ahead of the opening bell, while Nasdaq 100 futures dipped, as Wall Street came off a mixed Wednesday session for the major indices.
• SpaceX rose 1.5% in premarket ahead of its stock lockup expiry, with over 900 million shares poised to be released into the market.   
• Sandisk fell nearly 8% in premarket trading after reporting fourth-quarter results and issuing mixed guidance.
• Gold rose to its highest level since late June on Wednesday, amid weaker-than-expected payrolls data and hopes for a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. 

— Joseph Wilkins

SpaceX rose 1.5% in premarket ahead of its stock lockup expiry, with over 900 million shares poised to be released into the market.  

The first tranche of insider lock-ups is set to expire on Thursday, allowing early investors to sell a portion of their shares and posing a major test for the company following its IPO in June.

But Elon Musk’s firm was seen up 1.5% in premarket trading, recovering slightly from a brutal Wednesday session that saw the stock tumble more than 13% after a sharp increase in capital expenditures spooked investors.

— Joseph Wilkins

WPP shares soared in early London trade after the British advertising group’s first-half earnings showed organic growth beat analysts’ expectations, signaling that turnaround efforts could be paying off.

The group’s share price has suffered in recent years, amid major client losses and a structural market shift whereby advertising spend is increasingly being hoovered up by tech giants. This has prompted a major shake-up under CEO Cindy Rose.

WPP said revenue less pass-through costs fell 2.8% on a like-for-like basis in the second quarter, beating forecasts of a 6.3% decline and an improvement on a 6.7% drop in the first three months of the year.

Shares popped almost 25% in early trading, but remain down more than 60% over the last five years.

“When you are as beaten up as WPP is, it doesn’t take much more than some glimmers of hope to shift the market narrative,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould. “Revenue is still under pressure and there is continuing churn in accounts but profit came in materially ahead of expectations as CEO Cindy Rose’s cost cutting measures take effect.”

“Like her predecessor Mark Read, Rose is looking to streamline a business which has more moving parts than Big Ben. It’s early days but investors are welcoming signs of some progress on this front as the company continues to economise and progress asset disposals.”

“Revenue falling less slowly wouldn’t ordinarily be a cue to get the party poppers out but it at least suggests management are starting to stabilise the business.”

“Rose will be aware more is required to win back investors who have abandoned WPP in droves in recent years – particularly as its problems cannot just be ascribed to a difficult market with rivals like Omnicom and Publicis still chalking up growth in spite of the uneven backdrop. She must also convince a sceptical audience that WPP can be a beneficiary of AI, rather than a victim of the disruption it can cause.”

WPP shares soar

Commerzbank CEO Bettina Orlopp said on Thursday that it has begun talks with Italy’s UniCredit, in the latest iteration of Europe’s closely-watched takeover tussle. 

“We have started talks on this, which is in the genuine interest of both UniCredit and Commerzbank, as we are both determined to create value for our shareholders, clients, and employees,” she told analysts, Reuters reported.

UniCredit’s push to control Commerzbank had previously been met with opposition in Germany, but today’s comments reflect an olive branch extended by the target firm.

In an interview with CNBC Thursday morning, Orlopp said it is important to engage in dialogue to “jointly create value.”

It came after the lender posted second-quarter net profit growth of 94%. Commerzbank shares initially at the open, but have rebounded to trade 0.3% higher.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.93% lower at 65,683.26, while South Korea’s Kospi dropped 4.58% to 6,296.38 in choppy trade.

Both indexes were dragged by losses in tech stocks. Samsung and SK Hynix, which are Kospi heavyweights, fell 6.30% and over 10%, respectively. Over in Japan, Tokyo Electron declined 5.5% and Advantest lost 2.34% .

Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.47% to 9,271.60.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 1.56% in the last hour of trade, while mainland China’s CSI 300 closed 0.15% lower at 4,651.31.

—Justina Lee

Rheinmetall on Thursday trimmed its 2026 guidance after a cancelled project to make large warships for the German government fell through earlier this year.

The defense company now sees full-year in the range of 13.7 billion euros to 14.2 billion euros ($15.8 billion to $15.4 billion), 300 million euros lower than previous guidance.

While Rheinmetall shares are still up over 1,000% over the past five years, they were down 25% coming into Thursday trading.

Shares were volatile during early trading, with the stock initially opening about 3% lower. It then reversed course to last trade 1.4% higher.

Rheinmetall shares year-to-date.

Read the full story here.

— Elsa Ohlen

SoftBank on Thursday reported profit for its fiscal first quarter that beat market expectations, driven by a huge gain on its stake in Intel, while a rise in ByteDance’s value helped its Vision Fund division.

The Japanese giant said net profit for the June quarter totaled 347.3 billion Japanese yen ($2.2 billion). That beat the 120.23 billion expected by analysts, according to LSEG estimates. However, that was a nearly 18% year-on-year decline.

European stocks opened in broadly positive territory on Thursday amid broader market optimism for a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, while tech stocks stabilized on the continent after a sell-off in Asia. 

Shortly after the opening bell, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index was seen 0.2% higher, with most regional bourses and sectors trading in the green.

London’s FTSE 100 was 0.1% higher, while France’s CAC 40 added 0.6% and Germany’s DAX was down 0.1%.

Tech stocks opened broadly flat, with the sell-off that weighed on Asian tech names not yet seen spreading to Europe.

— Joseph Wilkins

Gold rose to its highest level since late June on Wednesday, amid weaker-than-expected payrolls data and hopes for a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. 

Spot gold rose as high as $4,295 per ounce before paring gains to settle around $4,262 per ounce. Gold futures were last seen trading at $4,314 per ounce. 

Hiring at private companies slowed considerably in July, with most of the job growth coming from healthcare, payrolls processing firm ADP reported Wednesday. 

A weaker ADP report reduces the likelihood of a Fed interest rate hike in September, which would provide some relief for non-yielding gold.

— Joseph Wilkins

Oil prices edged lower Thursday as investors weighed signs of progress in Iran-Oman talks that could eventually lead to a broader U.S.-Iran peace agreement.

Brent crude futures for October delivery slipped 0.34% to $79.18 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures for September delivery fell 0.52% to $74.83.

Iran said the U.S. was ready to “return to commitments,” while denying that negotiations were ongoing with Washington, after President Donald Trump signaled a deal was in the making.

Iran Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibadadi made those comments in an interview with state broadcaster IRNA on Wednesday, without elaborating on the said commitments, likely referring to the interim understanding reached in June.

—Lee Ying Shan, Lim Hui Jie

Shares of DBS, Southeast Asia’s largest bank by assets, rose 2.3% to a record high of 75.2 Singapore dollars, after the lender reported a record profit for the second quarter.

DBS reported net profit of S$3.08 billion ($2.41 billion), up 9% year on year, thanks to higher wealth management and fee income which helped offset lower interest margins.

“Fee income remained near record levels and treasury customer sales reached a new high as wealth,” DBS said in its earnings statement.

—Justina Lee

TikTok’s U.S. joint venture has laid off 250 employees, shuttering its Nashville office, The New York Times reported.

“”We have decided to close our Nashville office to streamline our operations and better align our teams for long-term growth,” NYT reported, citing a press officer from what is known as the TikTok U.S.D.S. Joint Venture.

The office, which occupied nearly 145,000 square feet of space in the heart of Nashville’s music district, will close on Oct. 5, the NYT said.

—Justina Lee

Mainland China and Hong Kong’s benchmark indexes opened lower amid broad losses in Asia markets.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.79%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 declined 0.7%.

The drop in Hang Seng was led by real estate and financial stocks, down 2.36% and 1.64%, respectively.

—Justina Lee

Asian technology stocks fell Thursday, tracking declines in U.S. peers overnight.

In Japan, SoftBank Group dropped 4.57%, while chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron fell over 5%. Advantest lost 4.66%, and Japanese memory chipmaker Kioxia declined 11%.

In South Korea, SK Hynix fell 6.67%, while Samsung Electronics slipped 2.85%. Seoul Semiconductor declined 2.88%.

Tech stocks have been seeing heightened volatility in recent sessions, with South Korea’s semiconductor-heavy market whipsawing between steep losses and record gains.

— Justina Lee

Asia-Pacific markets opened mixed Thursday, tracking U.S. markets that saw the Dow gain while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite drop.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.51%, while the Topix inched higher.

The Kospi dropped 1.84% at open, while the small-cap Kosdaq gained 0.15%.

Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 added 0.1%.

—Justina Lee

Asia-Pacific markets were set to open lower on Thursday, as investors continue to keep watch for progress in a Iran-U.S. deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was poised to decline, with the Chicago futures contract at 65,885 and its Osaka counterpart last trading at 65,780, compared with the index’s previous close of 66,300.44.

Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were at 25,674, lower than the index’s last close of 25,915.82.

In Australia, futures last traded at 9,143, while the S&P/ASX 200′s closed at 9,227.80.

The U.S., Iran and Oman are working on an interim deal to manage ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, where inbound ships would transit Iran’s territorial waters while outbound ships would sail through Oman’s waters in coordination with Tehran, Axios reported, citing two regional sources.

—Justina Lee

A major catalyst looms ahead for Elon Musk’s rocket company: Insider lock-ups are set to expire on Thursday, allowing them to sell a portion of their shares.

The release of SpaceX‘s first earnings report as a public company this week triggers a provision that allows investors to sell 20% of their eligible locked-up shares – a total of up to 911.5 million shares – on Thursday.

The expiration comes after SpaceX dropped more than 13% Wednesday on the back of a sharp increase in capital expenditures. The company said that its capital expenditures surged sixfold to $18.4 billion in the second quarter, with much of it going toward artificial intelligence.

SpaceX in the past day

SpaceX shares were last trading 2% higher in after hours.

—Darla Mercado

Shares of several companies moved in after-hours trading following the latest round of earnings reports.

AppLovin — The marketing platform operator tanked almost 16% after third quarter projections disappointed Wall Street. The company sees adjusted EBITDA for the period in a range of $1.71 billion to $1.74 billion, while the StreetAccount consensus estimate sought $1.75 billion. Revenue in the second quarter also narrowly missed estimates.

Western Digital — Shares of the data storage company slumped more than 10% as current quarter projections underwhelmed traders. Western Digital called for adjusted earnings of $4 a share, plus or minus 15 cents, on revenue of $4.1 billion, plus or minus $100 million. The LSEG consensus estimate forecast $3.81 a share on $4.04 billion in revenue.

Read more about Wednesday’s movers here.

—Darla Mercado

U.S. stock futures opened near flat on Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET.

Futures tied to the S&P 500 rose 0.1%, while Dow futures gained 57 points, or 0.1%. Nasdaq 100 futures slid 0.1%.

–Darla Mercado