US stocks diverged on Thursday as Oracle (ORCL) stock tumbled, putting more tech-exposed gauges under pressure after its earnings revived AI overspending worries.
Meanwhile, the blue-chip heavy Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI), which includes fewer tech names, gained 1%.
Oracle’s earnings late Wednesday brought AI spending fears back with a vengeance, after the software giant missed on cloud sales and hiked its already aggressive data center spending by $15 billion. Its shares lost as much as 16% amid fresh concerns about tech valuations, debt burdens, and the risk that hefty AI investments won’t pay off.
That put the spotlight on a weekly update on jobless claims on Thursday, which came in significantly higher than expected at 236,000. That was the biggest jump since 2020, after dipping to a three-year low in the Thanksgiving week. The next signal on the labor market will come from the delayed November jobs report, set for release next Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the US trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed to its smallest in over five years as exports surged, potentially reflecting a boost to the wider economy in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, earnings reports continue with Broadcom (AVGO), Costco (COST), and Lululemon (LULU) all set to release results.
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Nvidia stock falls as Oracle earnings reignite AI spending worries
Shares in Nvidia (NVDA) fell over 3.5% Thursday morning, as weak earnings from Oracle (ORCL) reignited fears that the AI industry is overspending.
The fall continues tough stretch for the AI chip giant, with shares down roughly 8% over the past month. The leading chipmaker has been caught in worries that, like its Big Tech cohort, the company is overspending on AI development.
At the end of November, Nvidia published a memo to analysts rebutting comparisons between itself and Enron, the scandal-ridden giant whose collapse was instrumental to the stock market crash at the turn of the century.
Additionally, Nvidia faced mixed market reaction to news that the Trump administration has approved export of the company’s H200 chips to Chinese buyers. The chipmaker has also faced reports that its signature high-performance Blackwell chips — which are not approved for sale in China — are being used by the Chinese AI developer Deepseek.
Oracle stock sinks, on track for worst loss since early 2000s as AI costs jump past Wall Street estimates
Oracle (ORCL) stock fell as much as 15% on Thursday after the tech firm’s quarterly AI costs rose ahead of Wall Street’s expectations and revenue fell short.
US trade deficit narrows in September to hit smallest margin in more than 5 years
The US trade deficit narrowed in September to its smallest margin in more than five years, as exports increased healthily and imports grew slightly.
The deficit shrank by 10.9% to $52.8 billion, according to data released by the Department of Commerce on Thursday, marking the lowest level seen for the measure since June 2020.
Exports rose 3% to $289.3 billion in the month, while imports rose by a much softer 0.6% to $342.1 billion. The month saw noted strength in consumer goods exports, which reached a record high in September, while on the other side, imports of automotive vehicles, engines, and other parts fell to their lowest level since November 2022.
The real goods deficit narrowed by 5.6% on the month, equal to $4.7 billion. Making up that figure, real exports of goods gained 4.2% against a gain in nominal goods exports of 4.9%, while real imports of goods gained 0.7% equal to a gain of 0.7% in nominal goods imports.
Notably, the US’ trade deficit with China — a longtime preoccupation of the Trump administration and President Trump personally — shrank to $11.4 billion from a previous $15.4 billion, a change of roughly 25%.
Oil prices extend losses as Maduro responds to tanker seizure, OPEC maintains prediction of balanced 2026 market
Oil prices extended losses by roughly another 1% Thursday morning as the Venezuelan government responded to the seizure of a crude tanker on Wednesday by the US Coast Guard and the OPEC+ cartel disregarded widespread sentiment to predict a balanced oil market in 2026.
Brent crude (BZ=F), the international oil pricing benchmark, traded down by roughly 1.1% to fall below $62, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil (CL=F) lost around 1.2% to trade below $58.
In Caracas, Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro’s government condemned the seizure as an act of “international piracy.” The vessel, a crude tanker called the Skipper and previously known as the M/T Adisa, was sanctioned by the US in 2022 for supplying oil to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, according to NPR.
Oil prices dropped on Wednesday after news of the seizure broke, marking a significant escalation in tensions between Washington and Caracas.
Elsewhere in the oil market, the OPEC+ cartel has maintained its prediction of a balanced oil market in 2026, according to Bloomberg. In a memo seen by Bloomberg, the OPEC+ nations said they will need to produce an average of 43 million barrels per day — roughly the amount of crude they produced last month — to maintain balanced supply and demand.
The posture runs counter to widespread market sentiment that oil is quickly headed for a steep oversupply glut of several million barrels per day, with prices expected to drop heavily in 2026. Analysts at Macquarie have predicted “punishing oversupply” coming for the oil market, and JPMorgan strategists wrote in a recent note that if OPEC does not curb its production, prices on Brent crude could fall as low as the $30s per barrel.
Stocks open mixed as Oracle earnings, jobless claims weigh on market
US stocks diverged at the start of trading on Thursday, as investors weighed fresh insight into the economy alongside signals from Oracle (ORCL) earnings.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) and generalist S&P 500 (^GSPC) slid by 0.7% and 0.4%, respectively, in the first minutes of trading.
The gauges were shaking off deeper premarket drops fueled by Oracle’s after-hours earnings on Wednesday. The software maker missed on cloud sales and raised its data center spending by $15 billion, re-stoking fears that tech spending on the AI sector would fail to deliver a payoff.
The blue chip-heavy Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI), which include fewer tech names, ran in the other direction to gain 0.5%.
After the Fed moved to cut rates for the third time this year, the market’s attention turned to a weekly update on jobless claims on Thursday, reading much higher than expected at 236,000 after falling to a three-year low in the Thanksgiving week.
Meanwhile, earnings reports continue with Broadcom (AVGO), Costco (COST) and Lululemon (LULU) all set to release results.
Disney to invest $1 billion in OpenAI, allow use of copyrighted characters in generated video
The Walt Disney Company (DIS) is set to invest $1 billion in OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) and enable users of the AI developer’s “Sora” video generation platform to use Disney’s copyrighted characters in their videos.
Shares in Disney traded up by around 0.2% in premarket trading on the news.
The partnership makes Disney the “first major content licensing partner on Sora,” according to a press release from Disney announcing the investment. The three-year licensing agreement will allow Sora users to pull from hundreds of copyrighted Disney characters for use in generated video, including those from franchises such as Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar.
At the same time, Disney is set to “become a major customer of OpenAI, using its APIs to build new products, tools, and experiences, including for Disney+, and deploying ChatGPT for its employees,” according to the press release.
Initial jobless claims rise to 236,000, biggest jump since 2020
Data from the Department of Labor published Thursday showed workers filed 236,000 initial jobless claims for the week ending Dec. 6, the biggest jump since 2020 and an increase of 44,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 192,000 claims. The four-week moving average for initial claims was 216,750.
Ongoing unemployment claims, however, decreased 99,000 to 1.83 million for the week ending Nov. 29.
The data follows a three-year low for initial jobless claims. However, seasonal adjustments and holidays can create volatility around the data. The government shutdown, which disrupted economic data in October and November, has compounded that volatility for major labor market reports.
On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell noted that “conditions in the labor market appear to be gradually cooling” after the central bank cut interest rates by 25 basis points.
Treasurys stall as focus turns to Fed’s upcoming T-bill purchases
Treasurys were steady following the biggest rally in three weeks, as investors got ready for the Federal Reserve to start buying $40 billion of bills per month on Friday.
This week’s Fed meeting shows just how much the next Fed leader matters
Yahoo Finance’s Hamza Shaban observes in today’s Morning Brief newsletter that the anticipation of new Federal Reserve leadership adds another layer of uncertainty to the Fed’s mission next year. He writes:
Gemini Space stock jumps after getting key CFTC sign-off
Gemini Space Station (GEMI) got approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for its application for a derivatives exchange on Wednesday.
That means the Winklevoss-led company could offer a prediction markets platform, a prospect that helped send its shares up over 15% in premarket trading.
The Magnum Ice Cream Company(MICC) stock rose 5% before the bell on Thursday. A Unilever (UL) spin-off, Magnum Ice cream, made its trading debut on Monday.
Netflix (NFLX) stock rose more than 1% in premarket trading on Thursday. The streaming service is currently involved in a bidding war for Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) with Paramount Skydance (PSKY), and now President Trump has said that the sale must include CNN.
Marvell (MRVL) stock fell 2% before the bell on Thursday after a report in the Information claimed the chipmaker faced the risk of losing orders to Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon Web Services (AMZN).
Strategy (MSTR) stock fell 2% in premarket trading Thursday. The drop follows bitcoin (BTC-USD)’s decline this morning. Strategy is one of the largest corporate holders of bitcoin.
Oracle woes ruin cross-asset party as traders flock to safety
