US Stocks Likely To Open Lower After Wednesday's Blip: 'Be Patient, But Be Ready To Act,' Says Analyst As Market Uncertainties Can Create 'Opportunities'

U.S. stock futures fell on Thursday following Wednesday’s relief after a two-day fall. Futures of all four benchmark indices fell in premarket trading.

President Donald Trump’s administration postponed implementation of auto tariffs by one month on Wednesday after the tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China were implemented on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury yield stood at 4.30%, while the two-year yield was at 3.99%. According to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool, there is a 93% chance that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates unchanged for the March meeting.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF QQQ, which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, rose in premarket on Thursday. SPY dropped 1.15% to $576.35, and QQQ declined 1.33% to $495.34, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Cues From The Last Session

Utilities and energy were the only sectors that declined on Wednesday, while the market witnessed a rally led by materials, consumer discretionary, industrials, and communication services sectors.

On the economic front, February’s ADP report showed that the private sector employment was up 77,000 jobs, with annual pay rising 4.7%. The S&P Global US Composite PMI Output Index fell to 51.6 in February, down from 52.7 in January. It was the second successive month in which the PMI has fallen, and the latest reading was the lowest since last April.

Marvell Technology Inc. MRVL declined in after-hours following a disappointing guidance. Rigetti Computing Inc. RGTI also fell in after-hours as its revenue missed estimates.

Insights From Analysts

A notable drop in the 10-year Treasury yield reflects market concerns about economic deceleration, said Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo. Despite robust fourth-quarter earnings and previously strong growth, recent data paints a more cautious picture.

Wren attributes this shift to factors like lowered consumer sentiment, driven by tariff uncertainties and potential labor market weakness. He also points to a “pull-forward” effect, where companies and consumers accelerated purchases to avoid anticipated tariff-related price hikes, evidenced by record-high January trade deficits. Weather impacts further complicate the data.

However, Wren notes positive signs, including strong consumer spending on services and increased home purchase applications amid falling mortgage rates. While acknowledging a near-term economic slowdown, he anticipates solid growth in 2025.

“From our perspective, we see a slowing economy as something like a temporary air pocket in the nearer term, and we continue to expect solid economic growth in 2025. We see market uncertainties creating opportunities in both equities and fixed income as the year progresses. Be patient, but be ready to act.”

Analysts at BlackRock highlighted the “unusually uncertain policy environment,” which according to them requires different views across horizons.

“While U.S. corporate strength is our base case for now, we have seen the outlook evolve suddenly in recent years. We stand ready to pivot given uncertainty because of the economic transformation and U.S. policy now. We created our scenarios last year to help us navigate this volatile environment. While some of the incoming information on U.S. policy has been noisy, we expect that to become a concrete signal to adapt to,” stated the BlackRock note.

Reiterating confidence in AI-linked stocks, the analysts added, “AI-related shares have come under pressure from lingering investor worries about whether AI investment will pay off. Yet we think this is still the early phase of AI adoption and see room for the buildout winners to do well.”

See Also: How to Trade Futures

Upcoming Economic Data

Here’s what investors will keep on Thursday:

• Initial jobless claims data for the week ended March 1 will be out by 8:30 a.m., ET.

• U.S. productivity data for the fourth quarter and U.S. trade deficit data for January will be released at 8:30 a.m., ET as well.

• January’s wholesale inventory data will be out by 10:00 a.m., ET.

• Fed Governor Christopher Waller will speak at 3:30 p.m. and Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic will speak at 7:00 p.m.

Stocks In Focus:

• BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings Inc. BJ was up 0.01% in the premarket on Thursday ahead of its earnings, which will be released before the opening bell. Analysts expect it to report earnings of 88 cents per share on revenue of $5.32 billion.

• Kroger Co. KR slipped 0.27% as Wall Street expects it to report quarterly earnings of $1.11 per share on revenue of $34.51 billion before the opening bell.

• Macy’s Inc. M was 0.45% higher ahead of its earnings, which will be released before the opening bell. Analysts expect it to report earnings of $1.53 per share on revenue of $7.87 billion.

• Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. HPE declined 1.54% ahead of its earnings, which will be released after the closing bell. Analysts expect it to report earnings of 49 cents per share on revenue of $7.82 billion.

• Veeva Systems Inc. VEEV climbed 6.12% after its revenue of $720.9 million, up 14% year-over-year, beat the consensus estimate of $699.11 million.

• Propetro Holding Corp. PUMP plunged 45.88% after its CFO, David Schorlemer, departed the company on March 3, 2025, after 4.5 years of leading financial growth and development.

• AGM Group Holdings Inc. AGMH surged 105.28% as it completed $5.4 million public offering to expand Bitcoin BTC/USD mining operations.

• Cutera Inc. CUTR shares jumped 37.23% as it announced a plan to reduce debt by $400 million and raise $65 million on Wednesday.

• Visionary Holdings Inc. GV gained 25.3% after the company received a financing consent letter worth $1 billion from Alfardan Group of Qatar to fund product R&D and the development of PEGASUS new energy vehicles.

Commodities, Gold And Global Equity Markets:

Crude oil futures were trading higher in the early New York session by 0.36% to hover around $66.55 per barrel.

The gold spot index was down by 0.83% to $2,894.73 per ounce. Its last record high was at $2,956.37 per ounce. The Dollar Index was down 0.07% at the 104.204 level.

Asian markets closed higher on Thursday except Australia’s ASX 200 index. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, China’s CSI 300, South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index advanced. European markets were mostly lower in trade.

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