US pre-open: Futures mixed after Nasdaq tumbles into correction territory

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were mixed ahead of the opening bell on Friday as market participants looked ahead to October's all-important jobs report. As of 1230 GMT, Dow Jones futures were down 0.98%%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.18% and 1.33% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed a massive 1,833.06 points lower on Thursday, more than reversing gains recorded in the previous session, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell into correction territory following a sell-off in AI stocks and all three major indices suffering their worst one-day declines since April 2025.

Investor concerns that sweeping Democratic victories in the House, Senate and key gubernatorial races could lead to tighter regulation and a potential slowdown in data centre development weighed heavily on the AI sector.

Micron Technology and Advanced Micro Devices both plunged 17%, while cloud infrastructure group CoreWeave fell 10% and Nvidia dropped 9%, leaving the chipmaker in negative territory for the year. The so-called "Magnificent Seven" collectively erased more than $1trn in market value.

As for Friday, investors will now turn their attention to Friday's closely watched non-farm payrolls report, which could provide further clues on the health of the US economy and the Federal Reserve's interest-rate outlook. Economists expect the US economy to have added 59,000 jobs in October, while the unemployment rate was forecast to remain unchanged at 4.2%.

Elsewhere on the macro front, a preliminary reading of the Univerity of Michigan's consumer sentiment index was slated for release at 1500 GMT.

In the corporate space, Under Armour trimmed its full-year gross margin outlook on Thursday as higher fuel and freight costs, inventory management actions and foreign exchange headwinds added to pressure on the athletic apparel group's turnaround efforts, despite a modest improvement to its earnings guidance. Second-quarter revenue fell 7% year-on-year to $1.2bn, with declines across North America and international markets, while footwear sales dropped 11% and e-commerce revenue slid 12%. Gross margin narrowed by 30 basis points to 47.0%, contributing to a near break-even result, with the company reporting an adjusted net loss of $2.0m. Looking ahead, Under Armour maintained its expectation for a mid-single-digit decline in full-year revenue but lowered its gross margin growth forecast to 170-220 basis points from 220-270 previously, citing higher supply chain costs linked to ongoing disruption in the Middle East.





Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com