Stocks Futures, Treasurys Steady as Markets Take Breather

By Joe Stonor

Stock futures inched higher and Treasurys were steady, as markets calmed after volatile trade Thursday.

Nasdaq futures inched up 0.1% after the index flipped sharp intraday losses Thursday to end the session higher. Artificial-intelligence stocks remained fragile, however, as chip makers slip in premarket trade. CoreWeave, whose soaring borrowing costs were one force behind investors' latest flight out of AI, traded down 2.5% premarket.

Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.1%, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 0.2%. The cautious move back to risk followed a limited recovery in Asia, where the tech-heavy Kospi closed 2.05% higher in South Korea after falling 7.6% in the previous session. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gained 1.8%, while Taiwan's Taiex added 0.55%. European stock indexes were mixed, but AI-linked stocks on the continent largely strengthened, helping the Stoxx 600 rise 0.3%.

Treasurys held on to gains in the last session after Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh avoided sounding a clearly hawkish or dovish tone during a moderated conversation in Bangkok. Warsh said he doesn't "prejudge meetings" as he declined to endorse comments from fellow policymakers signaling the Fed is in no rush to raise rates later this month.

"The most important thing was what [Warsh] didn't say," Deutsche Bank's Jim Reid said. "Markets took the lack of hawkishness as good news."

Ten-year Treasury yields were flat at around 5.080%, while 30-year yields nudged 0.8 basis point higher to 5.437%. At the short end, two-year yields fell 1.7 basis points to 4.734%.

Brent crude oil prices slipped around 0.3% but held above $105 a barrel as traders weighed plans from the International Energy Agency to accelerate the release of around 100 million barrels.

The dollar fell against a basket of global currencies, while bitcoin partially reversed Thursday's losses to add 0.2%, trading around $82,200. New York gold futures rose back above $4,200 a troy ounce.

Data releases due Friday include U.S. industrial production and capacity utilization for September.

Write to Joe Stonor at josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 16, 2026 04:30 ET (08:30 GMT)