By Susan Mathew and Devik Jain
(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures slid on Thursday after reports of clashes in eastern Ukraine kept investors on edge, while weekly jobless claims data was awaited for clues on a labor market recovery.
Some earnings-related declines also weighed, with chipmaker Nvidia sliding 3.4% in premarket trading as flat gross margins and concern about its exposure to the crypto market overshadowed upbeat current-quarter revenue forecast.
TripAdvisor Inc tumbled 7.7% after the hotel search website operator posted a surprise fourth-quarter loss.
Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces traded accusations of firing shells across the ceasefire line in eastern Ukraine, and Kyiv said the incidents looked like a “provocation” at a time when Russia has troops massed on the frontier.
The news sent the CBOE volatility index, also known as Wall Street’s fear gauge, higher after two days of declines.
“Markets will remain hostage to incoming headlines until there is some clarity on the situation. Tensions are clearly at a boiling point and anything can happen,” said Marios Hadjikyriacos, senior investment analyst at online broker XM.
Shares of big banks edged lower, while major growth names such as Apple Inc, Google-owner Alphabet Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corp and Meta Platforms Inc fell between 0.1% and 0.8%.
At 07:04 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 110 points, or 0.32%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 17 points, or 0.38%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 73.25 points, or 0.5%.
Markets have gyrated this week as geopolitical tensions added to worries about the Federal Reserve’s tightening plans this year.
Minutes from the Fed’s January meeting revealed policymakers’ intend to begin raising interest rates to combat inflation, and its decisions would be made on a meeting-by-meeting basis.
At 08:30 a.m. ET, weekly jobless claims data is expected to show a slight decline to 219,000 versus the previous week. Housing starts data for January is also due.
In other earnings-related moves, Albemarle Corp dropped 7.9% after the lithium producer forecast downbeat annual earnings despite higher lithium prices.
Cisco Systems Inc gained 3.3% after the networking firm raised its full-year earnings forecast and announced $15 billion in share buybacks.
DoorDash Inc surged 24.9% after it reported upbeat quarterly revenue as food delivery demand showed no sign of slowing, indicating ordering habits have changed permanently.
Hasbro Inc rose 4.0% after activist investor Alta Fox Capital Management nominated five directors to the toymaker’s board and urged changes including a spinoff of its unit housing games such as “Dungeons & Dragons”.
(Reporting by Susan Mathew and Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
