Jan 8 (Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures moved lower on Thursday, as investors turned cautious in the run up to Friday’s crucial nonfarm payrolls, while defense companies advanced after President Donald Trump called for a $1.5 trillion military budget.
Trump said that the 2027 U.S. military budget should be $1.5 trillion, significantly higher than the $901 billion approved by Congress for 2026.
RTX gained 4.9%, Lockheed Martin was up 7.2%, Northrop Grumman inched 7.5% higher and Kratos Defense advanced 7.1%.
Investors looked past Trump’s vow to block defence contractors from paying dividends or buying back shares until they speed up weapons production.
The move comes days after U.S. military forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The White House said on Tuesday that Trump was also discussing options for acquiring Greenland.
“While details are unclear and implementation cumbersome, a move towards more government intervention would create uncertainty and add to some risk premium in the markets,” said Mohit Kumar, an economist at Jefferies.
“We still remain constructive on the market but acknowledge the episodes of volatility which can follow Trump tweets. So far market has ignored geopolitical risks and focused on the fundamentals.”
At 05:08 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 146 points, or 0.30%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 15.5 points, or 0.22% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 80.25 points, or 0.31%.
The S&P 500 and the Dow ended Wednesday lower after hitting record highs earlier in the session as banks retreated from their peaks. The Dow marked its steepest one-day decline since November 18.
Meanwhile, artificial-intelligence stocks boosted the tech-heavy Nasdaq to its highest level since late October.
The focus this week will be on Friday’s crucial nonfarm payrolls report for December, which would be among the first reliable datasets after the longest U.S. shutdown in history.
Separate reports this week have pointed to a weak picture, with job openings dropping to a 14-month low, while hirings remained sluggish.
A weekly reading of jobless claims data is expected on Thursday.
Among other stocks, Applied Digital was up 7.4% in premarket trading after the data center operator reported second-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates on Wednesday.
Constellation Brands was up 2.3% after reporting third-quarter sales and profit above Wall Street estimates on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
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