Wall Street indices closed Wednesday’s trading with a slight increase, supported by Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN). U.S. stock futures declined on Thursday, and sentiment deteriorated on Thursday after news from Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU), a company often seen as an industry leader in chips due to its exposure to various types of chips and customers.
Micron’s quarterly earnings exceeded previous market expectations due to strong demand from artificial intelligence, but the included revenue guidance disappointed investors who were expecting more, especially since Micron’s value has more than doubled over the past year. Its stock fell by more than 5% in pre-market trading.
Shares of other chip manufacturers such as Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), Arm Holdings (NASDAQ: ARM), and Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO) also declined. However, investors seem to be in a state of steadiness ahead of key U.S. inflation data and the upcoming presidential debate.
Thursday sees the release of the latest reading of weekly jobless claims, durable goods orders, and pending home sales, in addition to the final reading of the first quarter’s GDP. However, most eyes will be on the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index on Friday, widely considered the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure.
Markets were also tense ahead of the first presidential debate of the year later on Thursday, between Democratic and Republican candidates, Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
