Stock Market Today: Stocks pause rally as tech fades, bond yields inch higher

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U.S. equity futures edged lower in early Thursday trading, while Treasury yields and the dollar inched higher, as investors hit pause on a post-inauguration rally that lifted the S&P 500 to within a whisker of its all-time closing high amid optimism over the new administration of President Donald Trump.

Stocks closed higher across the board on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 printing a fresh intra-day high before closing just four points shy of its early December peak amid a solid gains in tech stocks tied to a new AI venture backed by the President. 

Focus is likely to shift Thursday, however, to Trump’s address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland later today and the chances he’ll detail a new rounds of tariffs on goods from the European Union.

Trump has already said he’ll impose significant levies on imports from Canada and Mexico, with a 10% tariff on China, starting on the first of next month. 

Bond markets treaded cautiously in the overnight session ahead of Trump’s virtual address, as well as a reading of weekly jobless claims from the Labor Department at 8:30 am Eastern time.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields were last marked modestly higher at 4.631% while 2-year notes steadied at 4.301%.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six global currency peers, was marked 0.02% higher at 108.203 heading into the start of the New York trading session.

On Wall Street, stocks look set for a modestly weaker open following last night’s run at a new record high, with futures contracts tied to the S&P 500 priced for a 10 point pullback and those linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average called 10 points higher.

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The tech-focused Nasdaq, meanwhile, is looking at a larger 105 point decline with Nvidia  (NVDA) , Tesla  (TSLA)  and Palantir Technologies  (PLTR)  active in premarket trading. 

GE Aerospace  (GE)  and American Airlines  (AAL)  will publish fourth quarter earnings prior to the opening bell, with Texas Instruments  (TXN)  set to update after the close of trading. 

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In overseas markets, Europe’s Stoxx 600 was marked 0.06% higher in mid-day Frankfurt trading, with the FTSE 100 down 0.05% in London.

Overnight in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.79% higher, and topped the 40,000 point mark earlier in the session, as the Bank of Japan began its two-day policy meeting that could lead to the highest benchmark lending rate in seventeen years. 

The regional MSCI ex-Japan benchmark, meanwhile, was last marked 0.22% lower heading into the close of trading.

Related: Veteran fund manager issues dire S&P 500 warning for 2025

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