US stock futures edge lower; chipmakers sink as Micron underwhelms

Investing.com-- U.S. stock index futures slipped lower Thursday, retreating after disappointing guidance from chipmaker Micron and ahead of the release of key economic data.

At 06:00 ET (10:00 GMT), Dow Jones Futures fell 50 points, or 0.2%, S&P 500 Futures dropped 7 points, or 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 Futures fell 25 points, or 0.1%.

Wall Street indexes ended marginally higher on Wednesday, buoyed by Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) crossing the $2 trillion valuation mark after it announced a major foray into generative AI.

Micron slides on lackluster guidance, other chipmakers follow

However, sentiment has deteriorated Thursday following the release after hours from Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU), a company often seen as an industry bellwether due to its exposure to varied chip types and customers.

Micron’s quarterly earnings blew past market expectations, on strong demand from AI, but the in-line revenue guidance disappointed investors who were expecting more, especially given that Micron more than doubled in value over the past year. Its stock fell over 5% in premarket trade.

Other chipmaking stocks also retreated, with market darling Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM) and Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) lower premarket.

Economic data and Presidential debate in focus

That said, investors appear to be in something of a holding pattern 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, pending home sales, as well as the final reading of the first quarter GDP.

However, most eyes will be on Friday's PCE price index, as this is widely regarded as the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge.

Markets were also on edge before the first Presidential debate of the year later Thursday, between Democrat and Republican candidates, Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Levi Strauss slumps after revenue miss

In other corporate news, earnings are due from the likes of Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) and Nike (NYSE:NKE).

Elsewhere, Levi Strauss (NYSE:LEVI) stock slumped almost 15% after the jeans manufacturer reported a miss in its fiscal second-quarter revenue.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) stock fell over 1% premarket after a U.S. public health agency narrowed its usage recommendation for all respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines and held off on recommending their use for those under 60 years of age.

Crude rebounds after US inventories build

Crude prices bounced Thursday, rebounding after early losses in the wake of a surprise build in U.S. stockpiles.

By 06:00 ET, the U.S. crude futures (WTI) traded 0.6% higher at $81.37 per barrel, while the Brent contract climbed 0.6% to $84.95 per barrel.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a 3.6 million barrel jump in the country's crude oil stocks last week, according to data released late Wednesday, disappointing the market which had expected a draw of 2.6 million barrels.

More worrying was a 2.7 million barrel build in gasoline inventories, which indicated that fuel consumption remained weak even with the onset of the travel-heavy summer season.

(Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)

This article first appeared in Investing.com