US Futures Swing Lower
2026-07-16 12:51
By
Andre Joaquim
1 min. read
Futures for US equity indices turned lower on Thursday amid fresh volatility in the speculative chip sector and economic data that supports a hawkish Fed.
Contracts for the S&P 500 dropped 0.5% and those for the Nasdaq 100 fell 1.5%, while the Dow was flat.
Chip producers fell sharply, consistent with Asian counterparts on skepticism that AI hyperscalers could pull capital expenditure in coming quarters.
Speculative demand in the sector was also dented by Korea prohibiting leveraged ETFs and signals of more efficient machines by ASML.
Micron sank 5% while AMD, Sandisk, and Broadcom dropped around 4%.
Meanwhiles, UnitedHealth surged 7% after beating earnings in its June quarter and raising its full-year guidance.
New retail sales data reflected a strong US consumer net of lower fuel turnover, while low initial jobless claims extended the period of a strong labor market.
The data added to bets of a Fed hike this year as more strikes between Iran and the US rekindled energy inflation.