Stock market today: Wall Street mixed early following tech slide on China trade fears
Premarket trading was mixed Thursday, one day after the technology sector took a drubbing on worries over potentially worsening trade tensions with China.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked down 0.2%, while S&P 500 futures rose 0.2%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq, which had its worst day since 2022, rebounded 0.4%.
Domino’s Pizza fell more than 10% after the company said it was lowering expectations on store openings this year. One of the pizza delivery chain’s biggest franchisees, Domino’s Pizza Enterprises, is facing challenges in store openings and closings.
Chuy’s jumped 47% after Darden Restaurants announced Wednesday that it was buying the Tex-Mex chain in a $605 million deal. Shares of Darden, which owns Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and a suite of other chains, fell less than 1% before the bell.
United Airlines rose 1.5% after the carrier beat second-quarter profit expectations. United also lowered third-quarter guidance, however, it reaffirmed its full-year forecast.
In Europe, officials at the European Central Bank meet later Thursday. Analysts expect officials expect the central bank to leave its key interest rate unchanged at 3.75% to make sure stubborn inflation is firmly under control before lowering its benchmark rate again.
At midday, France’s CAC 40 was up 0.5%, Germany’s DAX inched up 0.2% and Britain’s FTSE 100 added 0.6%.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index finished down 2.4% at 40,126.35.
The markets’ spotlight was squarely on chip companies after a report from Bloomberg News said U.S. President Joe Biden is considering the most severe trade restrictions available if companies like the Netherlands’ ASML and Japan’s Tokyo Electron continue to ship advanced semiconductor technology to China.
The U.S. government has blocked Chinese access to advanced chips and the equipment to make them, citing security concerns, and urged its allies to follow suit.
Tech-related shares weighed on Tokyo trading. Tokyo Electron’s shares plunged 8.8% and chip equipment maker Advantest’s shares sank 4.9%. Lasertec Corp. fell 6.3%.
The strengthening yen also added to worries about exporter shares in Japan, as a weak yen is a boon for the nation’s giant exporters like Toyota Motor Corp.
The U.S. dollar rose to 156.46 Japanese yen from 156.19 yen. It was trading above 161 yen most of last week but had fallen in recent sessions. The euro cost $1.0929, inching down from $1.0941.
The recent currency fluctuations are a result of U.S. politics taking “center stage,” according to Tan Jing Yi of Mizuho Bank. Former U.S. President Donald Trump has been expressing concerns about an overly strong dollar as a disadvantage for the U.S. since it makes American-made products relatively more expensive in overseas markets.
Japan posted a trade surplus in June, the first in three months, highlighting a recovery in exports, according to Finance Ministry data. For the first six months of this year, Japan’s trade deficit declined by more than half from the same period last year, to 3.23 trillion yen ($21 billion).
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.2% to 17,778.41. The Shanghai Composite index edged 0.5% higher to 2,977.13.
Investors are awaiting word on policies to help rev up China’s slowing economy as a top-level meeting of the ruling Communist Party wraps up in Beijing on Thursday.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3% to 8,036.50. South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.7% to 2,824.35.
Taiwan’s Taiex lost 1.6% as giant chip maker TSMC sank 2.4% after losing 8% overnight in U.S. trading.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude fell 14 cents to $82.71 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 19 cents to $84.89 a barrel.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 dropped 1.4% to 5,588.27. The Nasdaq composite slumped 2.8% to 17,996.92, weighed by losses for Nvidia, Apple and other heavyweights.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.6% to its record set a day earlier, closing at 41,198.08.
By YURI KAGEYAMA and MATT OTT
AP Business Writers
