Futures-options traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange’s NYSE American (AMEX) in New York City, U.S., February 11, 2026.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were little changed Wednesday night after the blue-chip index’s three-day win streak came to an end.
Dow futures slipped 22 points, or 0.04%. S&P 500 futures lost 0.06%, while Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.2%.
Cisco Systems slid 7% in extended trading after the maker of networking hardware such as switches and routers issued disappointing guidance for the current quarter. McDonald’s dipped less than 1% even after an earnings beat.
Those moves come after a downbeat trading day on Wall Street, with the 30-stock Dow off by more than 66 points, or 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite dipped about 0.2%. The S&P 500 ended the day just a tick lower.
Stocks ended the session lower after earlier rallying off the back of a barnburner of a jobs report. The January nonfarm payrolls report showed sharp jobs growth of 130,000 last month, far above what economists were expecting, and much higher than the downwardly revised December gain. The unemployment rate ticked lower to 4.3% from 4.4%.
The report was a relief for investors who worried it would show a drop-off in the labor market, following a raft of recent data that’s indicated slowing growth in a “no hire, no fire” environment.
Yet the strong payrolls numbers also muddy the Federal Reserve’s interest rate outlook, and could mean fewer rate cuts than traders were hoping for if higher inflation also remains an issue. That underscores the importance of Friday’s consumer price index, which could show the central bank just what is needed for its dual mandate to come into better balance.
“It’s going to put a lot of weight on Friday’s CPI report, because if that comes in tame, at least the market can understand that the inflation part of the Fed’s equation is cooling,” Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Wednesday.
“And of course, now, if the job market is showing decent strength, it kind of relieves us from a macro perspective, because at least we’re not seeing an economic downturn,” Lee continued.
More data on the labor market is due out Thursday morning, with the latest weekly jobless claims figure. The existing home sales report is also set to release.
Restaurant Brands International is among the companies set to report Thursday before the open.
