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US stock market futures slipped on Thursday, with disappointing results from Oracle sending technology stocks lower globally.
Futures contracts tracking the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index fell 1.1 per cent in early trading, and the S&P 500 was poised to drop 0.8 per cent.
In earnings published after the market closed on Wednesday, Oracle’s third-quarter revenue of $16.2bn fell short of analysts’ estimates, bringing a swift end to a stock market bounce prompted by the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut interest rates earlier in the day.
The database company’s shares fell 11.5 per cent in after-hours trading.
“Even as investors were reassured by the Fed’s latest rate cut, familiar concerns about AI are still very much top of mind right now,” wrote Jim Reid, global head of macro research at Deutsche Bank, describing Oracle’s results as “disappointing”.
Neil Birrell, chief investment officer at Premier Miton, said the sharp drop in Oracle’s share price showed “the massive sensitivity to expectations” for big US tech companies.
US stocks had hit record highs earlier on Wednesday after the Fed cut interest rates to a three-year low, as Wall Street had widely anticipated.
“The tone of the press conference was less hawkish than feared,” said Mohit Kumar, chief European economist at Jefferies, pointing to Fed chair Jay Powell’s focus on weakness in the labour market. “The door remains open for further easing,” Kumar said.
Asian stocks fell earlier on Thursday, following the Oracle results. South Korea’s Kospi 200 dropped 0.9 per cent, as did Tokyo’s Topix. South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix fell 3.7 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tech index dropped 0.8 per cent.
A sub-index of the Stoxx Europe 600 tracking technology stocks fell 0.5 per cent in early trading on Thursday.
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