U.S. stock futures pointed in different directions early Thursday, a day after Wall Street posted its strongest session in more than a year on the back of the Democrats' midterm victories. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 262 points, or 0.5%, while S&P 500 futures slipped 0.1% and Nasdaq-100 futures dropped 0.8%, according to CNBC.
The split comes after the Dow jumped more than 1,500 points, or 3%, on Wednesday — its best day since April 2025 — and the S&P 500 climbed 1.6%, CNBC reported. Tuesday's results gave Democrats control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate with comfortable majorities, along with a series of governorships.
Why it matters
The midterm outcome reshapes the policy backdrop for markets at a moment when investors are already questioning the scale of spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure. Wednesday's rally reflected investors recalibrating to the new balance of power in Washington, but the mixed futures Thursday suggest that reassessment is far from settled.
Jordan Watson, a portfolio manager at Tandem Investment Advisors, told CNBC the surge and the shift away from AI-linked names may not last. He said markets could see further swings as investors work through the election results and what they might mean for policy, and cautioned against reading Wednesday's trading as a definitive all-clear. In his view, the move was more a signal that investors want discipline around how much capital is flowing into AI build-outs and whether those investments will deliver the returns they expect.
Oil retreat and a rotation out of tech
A steep drop in crude prices accompanied the rally. West Texas Intermediate futures fell 8% on Wednesday before edging up almost 0.1% to $88.15 a barrel Thursday morning, CNBC reported.
Several technology names weakened in premarket trading. Tesla fell 2.3% and SpaceX slipped 1.8%, after each dropped more than 3% in the prior session. Cloud-computing providers also retreated further, with CoreWeave down 1.7%, Nebius off 2.8% and Iren 1% lower, amid concerns about a political backlash to the industry following state-level election results.
Qualcomm was among the sharpest movers. The chipmaker reported quarterly results after Wednesday's close that beat analyst estimates, but its shares were down roughly 10% ahead of the opening bell. AppLovin, the AI-driven advertising company, moved the other way — up almost 24% after topping expectations and issuing guidance above forecasts, and it remained more than 17% higher in premarket trading.
CNBC also reported that Vice President JD Vance attributed Republican midterm losses to the war with Iran. That remark preceded Wednesday's market moves.
Europe and Asia trade mixed
Overseas, the pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.71% by late morning in London, with basic resources and autos leading gains. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed as much as 119 points to 10,948, its highest level since Aug. 7, ahead of the Bank of England's rate decision later Thursday. Markets expect the central bank's Monetary Policy Committee to lift rates by 25 basis points to 4% from 3.75% — its first increase in more than three years, according to CNBC. British lenders gained ahead of the announcement, with Barclays up 2.2%, Lloyds Banking Group 1.9% higher and NatWest up 1.4%.
France's CAC 40 added 1.1% and Germany's DAX rose 0.74%. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.49% and the Topix rose more than 2%, while South Korea's Kospi fell 2.33% and the Kosdaq dropped 1.24%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 1.39%.
German defense contractor Rheinmetall cut its full-year guidance late Wednesday, citing delays to military contracts and ammunition deliveries, sending its shares down as much as 16% in early trading. It was the company's second outlook reduction since August, when Germany abandoned plans to build warships in what would have been Rheinmetall's largest order since World War II. The company now expects 2026 sales of about 13.2 billion euros ($14.9 billion), below its prior range of 13.7 billion to 14.2 billion euros, and an operating margin of roughly 18.5% versus the 19% previously forecast. Rheinmetall pointed to delays in the German military's Arminius Boxer project, now expected to be commissioned next year, and setbacks in artillery ammunition acceptance testing.
Diageo, the British spirits group behind Johnnie Walker, Guinness, Smirnoff and Tanqueray, said the U.S.-Iran war continues to weigh on its operations. In a first-quarter update, the company reported net sales up 1.2% year on year to $4.9 billion, with organic volume down 0.1% and price/mix up 0.7%. CEO Sir Dave Lewis said the quarter represented a small step in the right direction while the market stays difficult and volatility persists because of geopolitical uncertainty and the conflict's effect on energy, supply and distribution. Diageo has said its restructuring plan will produce $1.2 billion in savings across 2027 and 2028.
What to watch
Traders will parse weekly jobless claims on Thursday, with October's nonfarm payrolls report due Friday, while Tapestry, Kimberly-Clark and ConocoPhillips report in the morning and Airbnb and Akamai follow after the close.
