U.S. stock futures ticked lower, putting the Dow on track for its worst weekly performance since the end of January. Here’s what we’re watching ahead of Friday’s trading action.
- Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.4% The index of blue-chip stocks had dropped 1.9% this week through Thursday.
- S&P 500 futures were down 0.3%, putting the benchmark index on track to end a three-week streak of gains. Nasdaq-100 futures edged down 0.1%, pointing to modest losses in large technology stocks at the opening bell. Read our full market wrap.
What’s Coming Up
- The U.S. Juneteenth federal holiday is observed for the first time. The actual holiday falls on June 19, a Saturday this year. Markets will be open as usual, at least this time around.
- The Baker Hughes rig count, a proxy for drilling activity, is out at 1 p.m. ET.
Market Movers to Watch
- With guns a-blazing:
Smith & Wesson
SWBI -3.07%
shares were among the premarket risers, adding 5.3% after the firearms maker said its sales surged in the latest quarter amid strong demand.
Smith & Wesson Brands launched its first dividend.
Photo:
Bing Guan/Bloomberg News
-
Adobe
ADBE 1.48%
shares climbed 2.9% premarket after the software maker’s quarterly profit and forward guidance came in ahead of expectations.
- Trading was mostly quiet among the meme stocks, but a few were managing to post mild gains.
BlackBerry
BB 4.89%
was up 2.1% premarket and
Clover Health
CLOV -3.01%
added 1.3%.
-
Orphazyme
ORPH -10.18%
is on the move again, and this time there’s a catalyst—unlike the recent volatility that the company said it could not explain. The FDA rejected the biopharmaceutical company’s application for approval of a treatment for a rare progressive genetic disorder, and it’s U.S.-traded shares plunged 53% ahead of the bell.
- Drug company
Geron
was flying in the opposite direction, up 22% ahead of the bell. Late Thursday it released data from a phase 2 study of a treatment of myelofibrosis.
Market Facts
- Gold futures declined 4.5% on Thursday, the largest drop in over 10 months. That took gold down to $1,777.80 a troy ounce, its lowest since early May. Friday morning they edged up 0.6%.
- A record $756 billion flowed into the Federal Reserve’s reverse repo facility on Thursday, a day after the central bank boosted the return on a key part of its interest rate control tool kit.
Chart of the Day
- Nonprofessional investors are continuing to upend financial markets and build on their forceful entrance into the trading arena last year.
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