Stocks Mostly Down Pre-Bell Ahead of Key Economic Data, Fed Officials' Remarks

07:18 AM EDT, 09/25/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity markets were mostly pointing lower before the opening bell Thursday as traders await key economic data and commentary from several central bank officials.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq declined 0.1% each in premarket activity, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.1%. The indexes closed Wednesday in the red for the second consecutive trading session.

The final estimate for the second-quarter gross domestic product is scheduled for 8:30 am ET. Reports for durable goods orders, the international trade in goods, retail inventories, wholesale inventories and the existing home sales index, all for August, are also due on Thursday, along with the weekly jobless claims bulletin.

Treasury yields were trending higher in premarket action, with the two-year rate increasing 1.4 basis points to 3.61% and the 10-year rate rising 0.5 basis points to 4.15%.

Several key Federal Reserve officials are scheduled to speak on Thursday, including Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman at 10 am and Fed Governor Michael Barr at 1 pm. Investors will also monitor remarks from Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid, Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan and San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly.

Earlier in the week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the Federal Open Market Committee is facing a "challenging situation," with near-term risks to inflation tilted to the upside and those to employment leaning downside.

"To us, it was not a surprise that stocks would slump following (Powell's) 'hawkish' speech yesterday," Macquarie said in a client note Wednesday. "What was a surprise was that the market hadn't slumped similarly in the days following that same 'hawkish' tone in (Powell's) post-FOMC press conference on Sept. 17."

At that conference last week, Powell characterized the Fed's decision to lower interest rates by 25 basis points as a "risk management cut."

Shares of Intel (INTC) rose 3.4% pre-bell following media reports that the chipmaker is seeking an investment from Apple (AAPL) to bolster its business as part of a turnaround bid. Tesla (TSLA) nudged down 0.5% after closing the previous trading session up nearly 4%.

KB Home (KBH) inched 0.1% lower as the homebuilder lowered its full-year housing revenue outlook, despite recording fiscal third-quarter results above Wall Street's estimates.

Accenture (ACN) , Jabil (JBL) , TD Synnex (SNX) , CarMax (KMX) and BlackBerry (BB) report their latest financial results before the bell, among others. Warehouse chain Costco Wholesale (COST) releases earnings after the markets close.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil slipped 0.7% to $64.54 a barrel before the open. Commercial crude stockpiles in the US logged an unexpected draw last week, government data showed Wednesday.

Gold advanced 0.5% to $3,788 per troy ounce, while bitcoin fell 1.6% to $111,634.

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