Stock Market Today: Stocks bounce from tech slump amid trade talk optimism
The S&P 500 is suffering its fourth worst start to any trading year since 1932.
% U.S. equity futures moved higher in early Thursday trading, following a tech-lead selloff on Wall Street last night that dragged the S&P 500 to its lowest levels in a week, as investors looked to add risk positions heading into the Easter holiday weekend.
Updated at 8:49 AM EDT
Data dump
Housing starts slowed again last month, Commerce Department data indicated, with new builds falling 11.4% to an annual rate of 1.32 million units, well shy of the Street's 1.42 million forecast.
Permits for new construction, however, a good indicator of demand, rose 1.6% to 1.482, topping the Street's 1.446 million estimate.
Jobless claims, meanwhile, fell by around 9,000 last week, with 215,000 Americans filing for first time unemployment benefits over the period ending on April 12. That takes the four-week average to 220,750.
Continued claims, however, were on the rise again, and pegged at 1.885 million, suggesting job seekers are finding it more difficult to secure a new position.
Stocks were little-changed following the data release, with the S&P 500 called 24 points higher and the Nasdaq priced for a 152 point gain. The Dow remains around 575 points lower amid the 20.5% slump for UnitedHealth.
Jobless claims remain flat. https://t.co/Kt7TuENdrz pic.twitter.com/yu0fBc3q6X— Julia Pollak (@juliaonjobs) April 17, 2025
Updated at 8:23 AM EDT
ECB delivers
The European Central Bank lowered its benchmark deposit rate by a quarter of a percent, taking it to 2.25%, in a move that was widely expected from economists and analysts as inflation pressures in the world's biggest economic bloc continue to ease.
"The disinflation process is well on track," the ECB said in a statement alongside its rate decision. "Inflation has continued to develop as staff expected, with both headline and core inflation declining in March.
"Services inflation has also eased markedly over recent months," the statement added. "Most measures of underlying inflation suggest that inflation will settle at around the Governing Council’s 2% medium-term target on a sustained basis."
We cut our key interest rates by 0.25 percentage points.
We did this because inflation is on track to settle at around our 2% target.
Read today’s monetary policy decisions https://t.co/PZOnYdYzaw pic.twitter.com/0IYhHL7VhR— European Central Bank (@ecb) April 17, 2025
Updated at 6:55 AM EDT
Weighty results
Eli Lilly (LLY) shares surged in early trading after the drugmaker said its developing obesity treatment lead to significant weight loss and lower blood sugar levels in patients with type-2 diabetes.
Patients in a late stage trial taking the highest doses of orforglipron, the experimental new drug, lost an average of 16 pounds, or 7.9% of their body weight over the 40-week period, and lowered their A1C by an average of 1.3% to 1.6%
"As a convenient once-daily pill, orforglipron may provide a new option and, if approved, could be readily manufactured and launched at scale for use by people around the world," said CEO David Ricks.
Eli Lilly shares were marked 13.6% higher in premarket trading to indicate an opening bell price of $835.00 each.
$LLY oral GLP-1, orforglipron, demonstrated statistically significant efficacy results and a safety profile consistent with injectable GLP-1 medicines in successful Ph 3 trial pic.twitter.com/SOIdZnFK7h— PHARM.Dabbler (@PharmDabbler) April 17, 2025
Updated at 6:31 AM EDT
Unhealthy start
UnitedHealth Group (UNH) shares are in free-fall this morning, plunging as much as 20% at one point in premarket trading after the country's biggest health insurance group posted weaker-than-expected first quarter earnings and slashed its full-year profit forecast.
UnitedHealth's $115 slump is likely to lop more than 700 points from the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is now called around 500 points lower in premarket trading.
Related: UnitedHealth stock tumbles after Medicare Advantage changes hit outlook
Stock Market Today
The Nasdaq lead stocks lower last night with a 3.07% decline, paced by a 6.9% slump for Nvidia (NVDA) after the AI chipmaker took a $5.5 billion inventory hit tied to new export restrictions on sales to China. The S&P 500, meanwhile, finished 120 points lower as selling accelerated following hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
Powell told an economic event in Chicago that President Trump's tariffs were having a larger-than-expected effect on growth and inflation prospects, while adding he and his colleagues would need to wait longer to determine their appropriate policy response.
"Tariffs are highly likely to generate at least a temporary rise in inflation .... the inflationary effects could also be more persistent," Powell said.
"Avoiding that outcome will depend on the size of the effects, on how long it takes for them to pass through fully to prices, and, ultimately, on keeping longer-term inflation expectations well anchored," he added.
Markets appear modestly more bullish heading into today's session, following comments from President Donald Trump touting progress in U.S. trade talks with Japan and a muted reading for the CBOE Group's VIX volatility gauge, which was holding at $30.64 in after-hours trading.
"The markets and investors want certainty and of this much I am certain: this year will be a more difficult year for investors than the last two cake walks," said Gina Bolvin, president of Bolvin Wealth Management Group in Boston.
"Powell wondered how long it would take to see tariffs’ effects on inflation and may be inclined to do nothing until we get more clarity on inflation," she added. "Investors have to be more patient. We are a tweet (X) away from a rally. Or steeper losses."
Related: Analysts revisit Nvidia stock price targets as US restricts China chip sales
On Wall Street, futures contracts tied to the S&P 500, which is down 6% for the month and languishing in the throes of its fifth worst start to start to any trading year on record, are priced for a 44 point opening bell gain.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, is called 300 points higher while the Nasdaq is priced for a 170 point gain with Nvidia, Tesla (TSLA) and Apple (AAPL) supporting early gains.
Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ) were a notable early mover as well, soaring 27.1% to $7.26 per share after activist investor Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital reportedly built a 4.1% stake in the car rental group.
In overseas markets, Europe's Stoxx 600 was marked 0.56% higher in mid-day Frankfurt trading ahead of today's European Central Bank rate decision that is widely expected to deliver a quarter point cut to its benchmark deposit facility, which would take it to 2.25%.
Overnight in Asia, Trump's trade talk comments helped Japan's Nikkei 225 finished 1.35% higher on the session, with a solid outlook from chip contractor Taiwan Semiconductor helping tech stocks into the final hours of trading.
The regional MSCI ex-Japan benchmark, meanwhile, was marked 0.88% higher heading into the close of trading.
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