Stock Market Today: Dow futures stabilize ahead of jobs reports

Verizon is betting big on fiber with a $20 billion planned deal for Frontier that it says will grow its fiber footprint. The telecommunications company announced the pending acquisition Thursday morning.

But analysts aren’t sold on the move, with LightShed Partners’ Walter Piecyk noting that even after the acquisition closes, the telecommunications company “would still lack a fiber-based home broadband solution in over 80% of the United States, and would continue to trail AT&T’s fiber footprint.”

MoffettNathanson’s Craig Moffett went a step further, calling it “an absolutely atrocious idea” as he sees “simply no path forward for Verizon to cobble together a meaningful wireline coverage map.”

Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg, meanwhile, said the planned Frontier purchase is “an opportunity to become more competitive in more markets throughout the United States.”

The Wall Street Journal reported on the likely deal late Wednesday, and Verizon shares ended that session 3.4% lower, while Frontier shares finished Wednesday trading up 38%. Verizon shares are up fractionally in Thursday’s premarket action, whereas Frontier’s stock is down 10.2% premarket and indicating at $34.75.

Utz Brands Inc.’s stock fell 3% early Thursday, after the savory snacks maker cut its fiscal 2024 sales guidance to reflect a slowdown in the third quarter as consumers cut back on spending.

The Hanover, Pa.-based company said it now expects organic net sales—which exclude the impact of currency and acquisitions—to grow 2.0% to 2.5% in fiscal 2024, down from prior guidance for growth of about 3%.

The company is still expecting adjusted per-share earnings to grow 28% to 32%.

Chief Executive Howard Friedman said the company had a strong first half and was able to benefit from distribution growth opportunities.

Investors are already working to shield themselves against an anticipated September correction which could start as early as this Friday if U.S. payrolls data comes in weak, Goldman Sachs technical strategist Scott Rubner has said.

The last two weeks of September is historically the worst two-week trading period for the S&P 500 index of the year, with the past four Septembers having seen particularly sharp corrections in the Nasdaq too, Rubner said in a note.

The S&P 500 ended Wednesday with its second loss in a row, and the index decline of 2.3% over the last two days is its worst stretch since early August.

Goldman Sachs’ clients are now already making their moves to protect themselves against an anticipated September slump, instead of waiting until the middle of the month when the ‘back-to-school correction’ has traditionally started, the technical strategist said.

He explained that trading styles have now started “moving faster” since the unwinding of the Japanese yen carry trade on Aug. 5, in a shift that has seen the September correction thesis “start to get pre-traded by market participants.”

Stocks making notable moves in Thursday’s premarket action:

Here are some of the companies presenting earnings on Thursday:

Before the opening bell.

After the close.

Here are some of the potential market catalysts due Thursday for traders to consider:

How are stock-index futures trading:

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 38 points, or 0.09%, to 40975, the S&P 500 declined 9 points, or 0.16%, to 5520, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 52 points, or 0.3%, to 17084.

Futures show stocks nudging a fraction higher at the opening bell on Wall Street as the market strives to rally after the S&P 500 fell 2.3% over the first two trading days of the week on fears of an economic slowdown and overvaluations in the tech sector.

However, the mood remains cautious ahead of jobs data over the next few days – culminating in Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report for August – that will provide more clues about the health of the U.S. economy and the pace at which the Federal Reserve will be cutting interest rates.

“More stable market conditions were welcome after the recent sell-off, with tentative signs that some investors might be shifting their mindset from panic to a state of calm,” says Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

“Nvidia was among the big names caught up in the sell-off and pre-market trading on Thursday showed a small rebound in its share price. However, many other big tech names including Apple, Amazon and Microsoft showed further declines in pre-market trading, suggesting it is too early to call a broad recovery in the markets,” Mould adds.