U.S. stock index futures were little changed on Monday night following a mixed close on Wall Street. The S&P 500 futures slipped about 0.1% to 6,873.20 points, while Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.2% to 26,048.75 points as of 7:15 p.m. ET (00:15 GMT). Dow Jones 30 futures also edged down 0.1% to 47,412.0 points.
On the cash market, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2% and 0.5%, respectively, supported by gains in large-cap tech stocks and optimism surrounding artificial intelligence (AI). Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.5% as investors took profits after recent rallies.
The spotlight of the session was the $38 billion partnership between Amazon.com Inc. and OpenAI, under which Amazon will provide large-scale cloud infrastructure to support OpenAI’s next-generation models. This news boosted tech sentiment, sending Amazon’s shares up more than 4% during the session. Nvidia Corporation also gained about 2.2% as investors continued to bet on rising AI-related infrastructure spending.
Adding to the market’s focus, U.S. President Donald Trump remarked that Nvidia’s most advanced AI chip — the “Blackwell” — will be reserved for domestic use only, stirring concerns about potential trade tensions with China.
On the economic front, data from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) showed that U.S. manufacturing activity contracted for the eighth consecutive month in October, with the index coming in at 48.7 — below the 50-point threshold that separates expansion from contraction.
Meanwhile, growing concerns about a possible federal government shutdown — potentially the longest in U.S. history — added further uncertainty. Any disruption in economic data releases or Federal Reserve communication would likely keep investors on edge.
After-hours trading saw Palantir Technologies Inc. slip 3% even though it reported earnings and revenue in line with Wall Street expectations. Investors are also awaiting results from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), with particular focus on demand for AI chips.
In summary, while the Amazon-OpenAI deal sparked fresh enthusiasm in AI and tech stocks, markets remained cautious amid weak economic signals and mounting policy risks. U.S. futures held steady but lacked a clear catalyst to drive a strong rebound in the near term.
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