OPENING CALL

Stock futures fell on Thursday after Wall Street rallied broadly following the White House’s move to provide auto makers a one-month exemption from tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico.

With Trump’s tariff policies stoking concerns about stagflation, investors are scrambling to update their outlooks for growth, inflation, the labor market and interest rates.

That means Friday’s edition of the monthly jobs report could attract greater scrutiny than usual.

Appearances from Jerome Powell and several of his colleagues, in their last public remarks before the Fed’s next rate decision, will also be closely watched.

Overseas Markets

Global markets were mixed. Europe’s Stoxx 600 edged lower. Asian indexes largely rose, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng up 3.3%, driven by gains in Chinese tech stocks.

The European Central Bank is widely expected to make a further cut to interest rates. The announcement is due at 8:15 a.m.

Premarket Movers

Alibaba unveiled its latest artificial-intelligence model as it takes aim at DeepSeek. Shares jumped in Hong Kong, as did its ADRs premarket.

Broadcom was down 3.3% ahead of its fiscal first-quarter earnings report. Investors will be focused on what Broadcom says about the market for artificial-intelligence chips.

General Motors was down 1.3%, Ford Motor fell 1.1%, and Stellantis declined 1.9% after shares of the Big Three auto companies surged Wednesday.

U.S.-listed shares of JD.com rose 6.2% after its fourth-quarter earnings were better than analysts’ expectations. Revenue in the period rose 13%.

Marvell Technology fell 16% after the company narrowly topped earnings and revenue estimates in the fourth quarter but issued fiscal first-quarter guidance that mostly was in line with expectations, disappointing investors.

MongoDB dropped 18% after fourth-quarter adjusted earnings smashed analysts’ estimates but the company’s outlook for the current fiscal year was below expectations.

Nvidia fell 1.8%. It closed with a gain of 1.1% on Wednesday.

ON Semiconductor offered to buy Allegro Microsystems at $35.10 per share in cash. Allegro said the offer was inadequate. Its shares rose 9% premarket, while Onsemi’s fell about 2%.

Rigetti Computing fell 10% after reporting fourth-quarter revenue of $2.27 million that missed analysts’ estimates and a wider loss in the period.

Tesla was falling 1.8% after closing with a gain of 2.6% in the previous session. Tesla sales have been declining across the globe with anger growing over the political activities of CEO Elon Musk

Veeva Systems was up 5.9% after the company posted fourth-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street estimates as revenue rose 14% to $720.9 million.

Victoria’s Secret declined 2.7% after saying it expects fiscal first-quarter revenue to decline from a year earlier.

Zscaler earnings and revenue topped estimates, boosting its stock by about 5%.

Postmarket Movers

Miller Industries posted lower profit and revenue in the fourth quarter. Shares fell 13%.

Sleep Number logged lower fourth-quarter revenue, as mattress-sales volumes fell to their lowest level in nearly a decade in 2024. Shares fell 7.7%.

Watch For:

Revise Productivity and Costs, U.S. Trade, Canada Trade, Weekly Jobless Claims; earnings from Broadcom, Costco, Kroger, Venture Global, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Samsara, Gap, Burlington Stores, Macy’s

Today’s Top Headlines/Must Reads:

– The Recession Trade Is Back on Wall Street

– Trump’s Tariffs Are the Toughest Since the Great Depression. The Dangers We’ve Forgotten.

– Germany, Once a Beacon of Frugality, Jolts Europe With Planned Spending Splurge

MARKET WRAPS

Forex:

The dollar fell to a four-month low after Trump announced a one-month tariff reprieve for auto imports from Mexico and Canada.

This chaos in U.S. trade policy creates uncertainty and makes decisions for investments and durable consumption difficult, Commerzbank said. That is “rather dollar negative.”

The euro rose to a four-month high against the dollar amid an uncertain U.S. economic growth outlook and optimism over Germany’s plans to boost defense and infrastructure spending.

Germany’s fiscal package, alongside the EU’s plan to increase defense spending, will initially ease concerns about the economic impact of potential looming U.S. tariffs on the EU, MUFG Bank said.

“Beyond the near-term, looser fiscal policy should support a stronger economic recovery from next year onwards.”

While it’s too soon for the European Central Bank to incorporate these plans into its outlook at Thursday’s meeting, it could have a significant impact in coming years, MUFG said.

UOB said the euro is likely to rise further against the dollar in the coming months, based on charts.

Having breached several strong resistance levels with ease, EUR/USD seems poised to enter weekly Ichimoku cloud, it said. The currency’s sharp rally is approaching key resistance in 1.0937-1.0944 area.

Bonds:

Treasurys remained relative outperformers versus German Bunds, which continued to suffer under selling pressure.

Wednesday’s selloff came after future German coalition partners agreed on large-scale spending to stimulate the economy and increase defense expenditure.

Energy:

Oil prices were broadly flat despite the dollar index sliding.

Sentiment is persistently negative in the oil market, with Brent falling nearly 2.5% on Wednesday’s session, ING said.

Increasing OPEC supply–with prospects for further supply hikes–combined with constant uncertainty around tariffs and trade have pushed the market lower, ING said.

Recent price weakness is making it difficult for U.S. producers to drill–the calendar 2026 price for WTI is around $63 a barrel, reducing incentives for producers to raise drilling activity.

Producers need a $64 a barrel price level to drill a new well profitably, according to the Dallas Federal Reserve Energy Survey.

Metals:

Gold futures fell despite a weaker dollar in relatively volatile trading.

The precious metal has given away gains made earlier in the session as investors position themselves for upcoming U.S. economic data.

Earlier gains likely reflect a fall in the dollar index to near four-month lows, after the U.S. exempted Mexican and Canadian automakers from tariffs for one month.

Friday’s release of Nonfarm Payrolls data will be scrutinized for clues on the Federal Reserve’s pathway toward monetary policy easing. If the data comes in softer-than-expected, it will raise hopes for an interest rate cut, a boon for non-interest bearing bullion.

TODAY’S TOP HEADLINES

JD.com Profit Soars as Consumer Spending Rebounds

Chinese online retailer JD.com reported better-than-expected earnings in the fourth quarter despite fierce e-commerce competition in the world’s second-largest economy, thanks to strong consumer spending.

The Beijing-based company said Thursday that net profit nearly tripled to 9.85 billion yuan, equivalent to $1.36 billion. That beat the 7.6 billion yuan estimate in a FactSet poll of analysts.

7-Eleven Owner Names New CEO as It Tries to Ward Off Takeover

Seven & i Holdings named director Stephen Dacus as its new chief executive and said it aims to list its North American convenience-store unit by the end of 2026, as it seeks to head off a takeover attempt by the Canadian owner of Circle K.

The 7-Eleven owner said Thursday that it plans to sell its business of supermarkets, specialty stores and other operations to Bain Capital for $5.37 billion. It will then buy back 2 trillion yen of shares, equivalent to $13.43 billion, using proceeds from the sale of the business and the initial public offering.

Rio Tinto Commits to $1.8 Billion Mine Extension in Australia’s Pilbara

SYDNEY-Iron-ore giant Rio Tinto will invest $1.8 billion to develop a satellite ore-body development in Australia’s mineral-rich Pilbara region.

The world’s second-biggest miner by market value said Thursday that it received all necessary approvals for the Brockman Syncline 1 mine project, about 5 miles north of its existing Brockman 4 project in the West Pilbara.

Broadcom Reports Today. The Outlook for AI Chips Is the Focus.

Broadcom will report its fiscal first-quarter earnings after the market closes. Investors are eagerly anticipating whether the company will raise its forecast of the market for artificial-intelligence chips.

The Wall Street consensus expectations for Broadcom are for the company to report January quarter revenue of $14.62 billion with adjusted earnings per share of $1.51. For the current quarter, the consensus calls among analysts are for revenue of $14.71 billion and EPS of $1.50.

Argentina’s Shale: Time to Drill, Baby, Drill?

America’s prolific shale basins are running out of their best wells, but Argentina’s Vaca Muerta is just getting started. Will pro-business regulation be enough to start a shale boom there?

Horizontal drilling in the basin took off around a decade ago, but unfavorable regulation-including capital and currency controls, import-export taxes and oil-price interventions, among other things-has hamstrung its growth. High inflation and a wobbly economy were also barriers to attracting capital to the shale patch. Exxon Mobil, for example, agreed to sell its Argentina business last year. Shell and Chevron still retain interests in the basin.

China Says It Has ‘Ample’ Policy Tools to Spur Growth

China’s finance minister said Thursday that the government has ample policy tools and flexibility to address both internal and external uncertainties, amid escalating trade tensions with the U.S.

The remarks come after Beijing imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports and its announcement earlier this week of an economic growth target of around 5% for 2025.

Errant Bombs From South Korean Jet-Fighter Drill Injure at Least 15

(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires

03-06-25 0624ET