Stock Market Update

The S&P 500 futures are down 15 points and are trading 0.3% below fair value, the Nasdaq 100 futures are down 83 points and are trading 0.5% below fair value, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are down 66 points and are trading 0.2% below fair value.

There's a negative bias in early trading in front of another reading on inflation in the form of the February Producer Price Index (PPI) at 8:30 ET.

Earnings reports from Adobe (ADBE), UiPath (PATH), SentinelOne (S), and American Eagle (AEO) garnered negative responses from investors, contributing to the downside bias this morning.

Uncertainty around U.S. trade policy and retaliatory measures by Canada and/or the EU remain top of mind for market participants. 

The 10-yr yield is one basis point higher at 4.33% and the 2-yr yield is one basis point higher at 4.00%.

In corporate news:

• Abode (ADBE 415.55, -23.60, -5.4%): beats by $0.11, reports revs in-line; guides MayQ EPS in-line, revs in-line; reaffirms FY25 EPS guidance, revs guidance
• Intel (INTC 23.03, +2.35, +11.4%): appoints Lip-Bu Tan as CEO, effective March 18, succeeding interim CEOs David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus; Tan will also rejoin the Board of Directors
• UiPath (PATH 9.70, -2.13, -18.0%): beats by $0.06, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 revs below consensus; guides FY26 revs below consensus; Also announces acquisition of Peak, financial terms not disclosed
• SentinelOne (S 16.59, -2.71, -14.0%): beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q1 revs below consensus; guides FY26 revs below consensus
• American Eagle (AEO 10.41, -1.04, -9.1%): beats by $0.04, reports revs in-line, comps +3%; guides Q1 revs below consensus as Q1 is off to a slower start than expected; guides FY26 revs below consensus; increases share buyback authorization by 50 mln shares
• Dollar General (DG 78.99, +4.14, +5.5%): reports Q4 (Jan) results, revs in-line; guides FY26 EPS below consensus, revs in-line

Reviewing overnight developments:

• Equity indices in the Asia-Pacific region ended Thursday on a lower note. Japan's Nikkei: -0.1%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng: -0.6%, China's Shanghai Composite: -0.4%, India's Sensex: -0.3%, South Korea's Kospi: -0.1%, Australia's ASX All Ordinaries: -0.5%.
  • In economic data:
    • Hong Kong's Q4 PPI 4.2% yr/yr (last 3.2%) and Q4 Industrial Production 0.9% yr/yr (last -0.1%)
    • Australia's January Building Approvals 6.3% m/m, as expected (last 0.7%) and Private House Approvals 1.1% m/m, as expected (last -3.0%). MI Inflation Expectations 3.6% (last 4.6%)
    • New Zealand's January External Migration & Visitors 13.4% m/m (last 12.2%)
  • In news:
    • Japanese debt faced renewed weakness, driving the country's 40-yr yield to a fresh closing high for the year while yields on shorter tenors remain a bit below their highs from Monday.
    • China Securities Daily speculated that the yuan could appreciate due to rising asset demand.
    • Morgan Stanley lowered its view of Australian stocks to Underweight.
• Major European indices trade on a mixed note after President Trump's threats about additional tariffs. STOXX Europe 600: +0.4%, Germany's DAX: -0.4%, U.K.'s FTSE 100: +0.2%, France's CAC 40: UNCH, Italy's FTSE MIB: -0.3%, Spain's IBEX 35: +0.6%.
  • In economic data:
    • Eurozone's January Industrial Production 0.8% m/m (expected 0.5%; last -0.4%); 0.0% yr/yr (expected -0.9%; last -1.5%)
    • Italy's Q4 Unemployment Rate 6.1% (expected 6.2%; last 6.1%)
    • Swiss February PPI 0.3% m/m (expected 0.2%; last 0.1%); -0.1% yr/yr (last -0.3%)
  • In news:
    • European Central Bank policymaker Nagel said that the EU is right to respond to U.S. tariffs and that a trade could tip Germany back into a recession.
    • Bank of France lowered its domestic growth forecast for 2025 to 0.7% from 0.9% and cut its inflation outlook to 1.3% from 1.6%.
    • Deutsche Bank affirmed its outlook for the year.