US stock futures steady after Apple, Tesla losses dent Wall St

U.S. stock index futures steadied on Thursday evening after losses in tech heavyweights Apple and Tesla saw Wall Street mark a weak start to 2025.

Expectations of slower interest rate cuts and uncertainty over policies under incoming President Donald Trump also chipped away at sentiment, although Wall Street indexes were still sitting on stellar gains for 2024. 

S&P 500 Futures steadied at 5,917.75 points, while Nasdaq 100 Futures steadied at 21,171.75 points by 18:15 ET (23:15 GMT). Dow Jones Futures moved little at 42,694.0 points.  Apple, Tesla slide amid China woes 

Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL ) fell 0.2% in aftermarket trade, while Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA ) rose 0.5%. The two were the biggest weights on Wall Street on Thursday.

Apple sank 2.6% during the session after the iPhone maker announced discounts of up to 500 yuan ($68.50) on its flagship devices in China, as it struggles with heightened competition and laggard sales in the country. 

The company’s Chinese sales also largely underwhelmed in November, which saw UBS analysts warn that Apple could potentially miss sales estimates for the December quarter. China is a major market for Apple, and has been a sore point in recent years amid heightened competition from local players such as Huawei and Xiaomi (OTC:XIACF ). 

Tesla slid 6.1% during Thursday’s session after the electric vehicle maker’s fourth-quarter deliveries missed expectations. 

Laggard North American and European demand, coupled with heightened competition in China saw Tesla log its first annual decline in deliveries in over a decade. 

The delivery figures underscored the need for Tesla to diversify into autonomous driving and artificial intelligence, amid weakening EV demand and shrinking margins.  GDP downgrade, jobless claims spook stocks 

Wall Street indexes were also pressured by a downward revision in the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s gross domestic product estimates for the fourth quarter, which suggested that the world’s biggest economy cooled further towards the end of 2024.

But conversely, weekly jobless claims data read lower than expected, indicating that the labor market remained robust.

The jobless claims data furthered concerns that strength in the labor market will allow the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates at a slower pace this year. The central bank had also signaled a slower pace of easing in 2025, citing concerns over sticky inflation. 

Wall Street indexes marked a weak start to the new year on this notion. The S&P 500 fell 0.2% to 5,896.60 points, while the NASDAQ Composite fell 0.2% to 19,280.75 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4% to 42,392.27 points. 

Source: Investing.com