Stocks Down Pre-Bell as Oracle Results Dampen Fed Rate Cut Rally

07:28 AM EST, 12/11/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity markets were trending lower before Thursday's opening bell as Oracle's (ORCL) financial results reignited concerns about the artificial intelligence trade, erasing some of the gains sparked by the Federal Reserve's recent rate cut.

The S&P 500 declined 0.5%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked down 0.2% and the Nasdaq fell 0.8% in premarket activity. The indexes finished the previous trading session higher, with the Dow notching its biggest single-day gain since Nov. 25.

Shares of Oracle dropped 12% pre-bell after the cloud computing company's fiscal second-quarter revenue came in below Wall Street's estimates. The firm's underlying cloud demand and remaining performance obligation growth "remain impressive," but rising capital intensity and unclear funding mechanics are keeping investors cautious, RBC Capital Markets said in a client note emailed Thursday.

Nvidia (NVDA) and CoreWeave (CRWV) were down 1.6% and nearly 3%, respectively.

On Wednesday, the Fed reduced its benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points, delivering a third straight cut of the same size, amid continued concerns about the health of the labor market. Policymakers reiterated their median rate expectations through 2028.

Three Federal Open Market Committee members dissented from the majority, with Governor Stephen Miran preferring a 50-basis-point reduction and Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee and Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid voting in favor of a no-change stance, according to the FOMC statement.

"We expect the Fed will want to pause for a while to allow time for this and prior cuts to feed through the economy," Oxford Economics Chief Global Economist Ryan Sweet said in remarks e-mailed to MT Newswires on Wednesday.

US Treasury yields decreased in premarket action, with the two-year rate retreating 2.7 basis points to 3.54% and the 10-year rate off 2.1 basis points to 4.14%.

Thursday's economic calendar has the delayed international trade in goods and services report for September at 8:30 am ET, along with the weekly jobless claims bulletin.

Adobe (ADBE) declined 0.6% before the bell, as the software maker provided a full-year annualized recurring revenue, or ARR, growth outlook indicating a deceleration from the previous fiscal year. Synopsys (SNPS) nudged 0.5% higher following the company's latest financial results.

Broadcom (AVGO) , Costco Wholesale (COST) , Lululemon Athletica (LULU) and RH (RH) are scheduled to release their latest quarterly earnings after the markets close. Ciena (CIEN) and Manchester United (MANU) post results early Thursday.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil slipped 1.4% to $57.67 a barrel before the open. Gold increased 0.5% to $4,245 per troy ounce, while bitcoin dropped 3.2% to $90,356.

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