Stock futures fall as investors assess dismal FedEx warning

US stock futures fell Thursday night as Wall Street headed for a losing week, and traders absorbed a dire profit warning from FedEx.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 142 points, or 0.46%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.56% and 0.64% respectively.
FedEx shares plunged 15% in extended trading after the shipping company withdrew its full-year guidance and said it would implement cost-cutting initiatives to deal with weakness global shipment volumes as “macro trends have worsened significantly”.
The top three averages were on course to notch their fourth losing week in five. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 3.70% this week, while the S&P 500 is down 4.08%. The Nasdaq Composite is down 4.62%, heading for its worst weekly loss since June.
During Thursday’s regular session, the Dow Jones fell 173 points, or 0.56%, for its lowest close since July 14. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 1.43%, while the S&P 500 fell 1.13%.
Traders fear markets could retest June lows after a surprisingly warm reading in August’s Consumer Price Index report pointed to an increasingly difficult path to lower inflation by the Federal Reserve.
“They might have a tough choice to make,” iCapital’s Anastasia Amoroso said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” on Thursday.
“Before, they were saying, we’re going to try to have a soft landing and bring inflation down. Now they might have to make a choice. It’s either a soft landing or a drop in inflation. In other words, they may have to instead design a repression of economic growth to bring inflation down,” she added.
On the economic front, traders await the latest consumer sentiment data Friday at 10 a.m. ET.