Slump By Disney May Weigh On Wall Street

(RTTNews) - The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a lower open on Thursday, with stocks likely to move to the downside after closing mixed for two consecutive sessions.

A slump by shares of Disney (DIS) may weigh on the markets, as the entertainment giant is plunging by 6.0 percent in pre-market trading.

Disney is under pressure after reporting fiscal fourth quarter earnings that exceeded analyst estimates but weaker than expected revenues.

Selling pressure may be somewhat subdued, however, as President Donald Trump signed a bill last night officially ending the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

The bill ending the shutdown, which extends funding for most agencies until January 30th, should lead to the resumption of the release of key U.S. economic data, providing additional clarity for the markets.

However, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Wednesday that the October jobs and consumer price inflation reports are "likely never being released" as a result of the shutdown.

Following the mixed performance seen during Tuesday's session, the major U.S. stock indexes once again moved in opposite directions during trading on Wednesday.

While the Dow climbed to a new record closing high, the tech-heavy Nasdaq showed another moderate move to the downside.

The Nasdaq fell 61.84 points or 0.3 percent to 23,406.46, but the S&P 500 inched up 4.31 points or 0.1 percent to 6,850.92 and the Dow climbed 326.86 points or 0.7 percent to 48,254,82.

The continued advance by the Dow came amid strong gains by UnitedHealth (UNH), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Cisco Systems (CSCO).

Meanwhile, continued decline by the tech-heavy Nasdaq may have reflected lingering valuation concerns despite a surge by shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

AMD spiked by 9.0 percent after CEO Lisa Su predicted the chipmaker's annual revenue growth will average more than 35 percent over the next three to five years.

Su also said that AMD could be able to achieve "double-digit" share in the data center AI chip market that is currently dominated by Nvidia (NVDA).

Meanwhile, traders also kept an eye on developments in Washington, where the House of Representatives prepared to vote on a bill ending the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

Gold stocks showed a substantial move to the upside amid a sharp increase by the price of the precious metal, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index surging by 3.7 percent.

Significant strength was also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 2.6 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.

Steel, pharmaceutical and semiconductor stocks also saw considerable strength on the day, while energy stocks plunged amid a steep drop by the price of crude oil.

Commodity, Currency Markets

Crude oil futures are climbing $0.65 to $59.14 a barrel after plummeting $2.55 to $58.49 a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, after spiking $97.30 to $4,213.60 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are rising $15.20 to $4,228.80 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 154.66 yen versus the 154.77 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1616 compared to yesterday's $1.1592.

Asia

Broadly positive sentiment prevailed in Asian markets tracking the positive sentiment created by the end of the longest-ever U.S. government shutdown. Chinese Government's plans to unveil a comprehensive strategy to boost the new energy battery industry and enhance related infrastructure also supported sentiment.

China's Shanghai Composite Index added 0.73 percent to finish trading at 4,029.50. The day's trading ranged between 3,994.77 and 4,030.40. The Shenzhen Component Index closed 1.8 percent higher at 13,476.52.

The Japanese benchmark Nikkei 225 rallied 225 points or 0.44 percent to close trading at 51,288.00. The day's trading range was between 50,956 and 51,351.

M3 jumped 23.5 percent. Furukawa Electric and Isuzu Motors, both gained close to 12 percent followed by Citizen Watch Co that rallied 10.6 percent. Haseko also added 8.3 percent.

Terumo Corp topped losses with a decline of 6.3 percent. Kuraray lost 5.8 percent followed by SoftBank Group Corp that erased 3.4 percent. Daiwa House Industry and Otsuka Holdings, both slipped more than 2 percent.

Korean Stock Exchange's Kospi Index added 20 points or 0.49 percent to close trading at 4,170.63. The day's trading range was between 4,123.84 and 4,180.21.

The Hang Seng Index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange jumped 150 points or 0.56 percent from the previous close to finish trading at 27,073.03. The day's trading range was between a high of 27,188.81 and a low of 26,733.21.

Australia's S&P/ASX200 closed trading at 8,753.40, losing 46 points or 0.52 percent from the previous close. The day's trading range was between 8,701.80 and 8,799.60.

Mining business IGO topped gains with a surge of 15.3 percent. Domino's Pizza Enterprises rallied 11.7 percent. Liontown Resources and Pilbara Minerals, both jumped more than 10 percent. Flight Centre also gained 7.4 percent.

Aerospace business DroneShield plunged more than 31 percent after its CEO dumped shares. Graincorp slipped 10.8 percent followed by Xero that erased more than 9 percent. Infratil declined 7.1 percent whereas Vicinity Centres saw a decline of close to 5 percent.

The NZX 50 of the New Zealand Stock Exchange shed 74 points or 0.54 percent to close trading at 13,597.87, versus the previous close of 13,671.73. The day's trading ranged between 13,597.87 and 13,725.62.

Mainfreight rallied 8.7 percent followed by Skycity Entertainment that gained 6.4 percent. Port Tauranga, Skellerup and Serko, all rallied more than 1.5 percent. EROAD as well as Infratil topped losses with a decline of more than 5.5 percent. ANZ Holdings also shed close to 5 percent. KMD Brands declined 3.5 percent followed by Westpac Banking that lost 3 percent.

Europe

European stocks gave up early gains and are broadly lower Thursday afternoon as investors look ahead to some crucial economic data following the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history coming to an end after President Donald Trump signed a funding package.

The Republican-controlled House passed the crucial spending bill by 222 to 209 votes, with two Reps not voting.

Speaking after signing the short-term bill in the Oval Office late Wednesday night, Trump said the government would now "resume normal operations" after "people were hurt so badly" from the long shutdown.

As per the funding compromise, a new stopgap measure to extend government funding until January 30 has been approved.

Expectations of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve next month help limit markets' downside.

Among the major markets in Europe, the U.K. and Germany are down in negative territory, while France remains firmly positive.

The pan European Stoxx 600 is up 0.11 percent. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 is down 0.34 percent and Germany's DAX is down 0.4 percent, while France's CAC 40 is gaining 0.69 percent.

In the UK market, Despite a sharp surge in first-half earnings, 3I Group shares are plunging nearly 16 percent after the company warned of a challenging environment ahead and of soft recent trading at the discount retailer that makes up most of its portfolio.

The company's first-half profit climbed to £3.287 billion, up from £2.048 billion last year. Earnings per share rose to 339.8 pence, compared with 211.6 pence a year earlier.

Aviva and WPP are down more than 4.5 percent. Admiral Group, SSE, Barratt Redrow, Vodafone Group, BP, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Kingfisher, Bunzl, Entain, GSK, Shell, Smith & Nephew and Compass Group are down 1 to 2.5 percent.

Endeavour Mining is soaring 11.5 percent on strong third-quarter performance thanks to high gold prices, firm output and higher cash generation.

Burberry Group is notably higher after the company said that its first half loss before tax narrowed to 48 million pounds from a loss of 80 million pounds a year ago.

Convatec Group is rising 6.5 percent. Fresnillo, Spirax Group, Persimmon, Metlen Energy & Metals, IAG, Hiscox, Experian, Babcock International, Standard Chartered and Easyjet are up with sharp to moderate gains.

In the German market, Siemens is down 5.5 percent after reporting a drop in fourth-quarter earnings. The company's bottom line came in at EUR1.619 billion, or EUR2.05 per share in the fourth quarter, compared with EUR1.900 billion, or EUR2.38 per share, last year.

Siemens Healthineers is down 3.2 percent, while RWE and E.ON are down 2.1 percent and 2 percent, respectively. Fresenius Medical Care, Beiersdorf and Fresenius are also notable lower.

Merck is gaining more than 6 percent. Merck's net profit in the third quarter increased to €898 million or €2.07 per share from €812 million or €1.86 per share in the prior year. Excluding one-time items, earnings per share pre edged up 0.9 percent to €2.32 from €2.30.

Munich RE, Bayer, MTU Aero Engines, Hannover Rueck and Infineon are up 1 to 1.7 percent.

In the French market, Kering, Teleperformance, Credit Agricole, Bouygues, Societe Generale, Saint Gobain, AXA, Unibail Rodamco, Thales, Dassault Systemes and TotalEnergies are up 1 to 2.5 percent.

Carrefour is gaining more than 1.5 percent after the Saadé family acquired a 4 percent stake in the company and becoming the group's new majority shareholder.

Edenred is declining by 1.9 percent. Pernod Ricard is down 1.5 percent, while Legrand, Publicis Groupe and Hermes International are down with modest losses.

In economic news, data from Eurostat showed Eurozone industrial production rose 0.2 percent month-on-month in September 2025, after a 1.1 percent decline in August. On an annual basis, industrial output grew 1.2 percent, the same pace as in the previous month and below forecasts of 2.1 percent.

France's unemployment rate increased in the third quarter, data from the statistical office INSEE showed. The ILO jobless rate rose to 7.7 percent in the third quarter from revised 7.6 percent in the second quarter. The unemployment rate was forecast to rise to 7.6 percent from the second quarter's initial estimate of 7.5 percent.

The UK economy expanded marginally in the third quarter, the Office for National Statistics said in its report.

Gross domestic product grew 0.1 percent sequentially, following the prior quarter's 0.3 percent expansion. This was also slower than forecast of 0.2 percent. On a yearly basis, the economy logged a growth of 1.3 percent in the third quarter, as expected.

Month-on-month, GDP fell 0.1 percent following no growth in August and a 0.1 percent fall in July.

Another report from the ONS showed that the visible trade deficit narrowed to GBP 18.89 billion from GBP 19.53 billion in August. The total trade gap was GBP 1.09 billion compared to a GBP 1.27 billion shortfall in the prior month.

U.S. Economic News

Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari is due to deliver welcome remarks before the Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Annual Research Conference at 9:30 am ET.

At 11 am ET, the Treasury Department is scheduled to announce the details of this month's auction of twenty-year bonds.

The Energy Information Administration is due to release its report on crude oil inventories in the week ended November 7th at 12 pm ET. Crude oil inventories are expected to rise by 1.0 million barrels after jumping by 5.2 million barrels in the previous week.

At 12:15 pm ET, St. Louis Federal Reserve President Alberto Musalem is scheduled to speak on the U.S. economy and monetary policy before the Evansville Regional Economic Partnership 2025 Economic Impact and Policy Forum.

Cleveland Federal Reserve President Beth Hammack is due to participate in a fireside chat before the Economic Club of Pittsburgh at 12:20 pm ET.

At 1 pm ET, the Treasury Department is scheduled to announce the results of this month's auction of $25 billion worth of thirty-year bonds.