Stock Market Today: S&P 500, Dow Futures Fall Amid Narrowing Trade Deficit, Jobless Claims Dip— Bumble, Morgan Stanley, Adobe In Focus (UPDATED)

Editor’s Note: The future prices of benchmark tracking ETFs, the lede, the economic data, and the headline were updated in the story.

U.S. stock futures fell on Thursday following Wednesday’s mixed close. Futures of the major benchmark indices were lower.

Initial jobless claims for the week ending March 7 fell slightly to 213,000, signaling continued labor market resilience.

Meanwhile, the January trade deficit narrowed sharply to $54.5 billion—a 25.3% decrease from December—driven by a 5.5% surge in exports to $302.1 billion.

In the housing sector, January data showed a rebound in housing starts to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,487,000, a 7.2% monthly increase, while building permits fell 5.4% to a rate of 1,376,000.

On Wednesday, in Hebron, Kentucky, President Donald Trump asserted the U.S. has “won” the war against Iran, citing severely weakened Iranian military capabilities despite ongoing regional attacks and no specific end date.

Simultaneously, Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced the DOE will release 172 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve beginning next week to mitigate energy price spikes during the conflict. Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council also condemned Iran for attacks on Gulf countries and Jordan, demanding to halt hostilities.

The 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.22%, and the two-year bond was at 3.65%. The CME Group's FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing a 99.3% likelihood of the Federal Reserve leaving the current interest rates unchanged in March.

Index	Performance (+/-)
Dow Jones	-0.52%
S&P 500	-0.43%
Nasdaq 100	-0.43%
Russell 2000	-1.12%

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, respectively, were lower in premarket on Thursday. The SPY was down 0.70% at $671.62, while the QQQ declined 0.66% to $603.65.

Stocks In Focus

Bumble

• Bumble Inc. (NASDAQ:BMBL) jumped 22.89% in premarket on Thursday after the company released its fourth-quarter earnings report and issued a strong first-quarter revenue outlook.

• BMBL maintains a strong price trend in the short term but a weak trend in the medium and long terms, with a poor growth ranking, as per Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings.

Morgan Stanley

• Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) declined by 1.80% after it restricted redemptions at its private credit fund after withdrawals surged.

• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that MS maintains a weaker price trend over the short, medium, and long terms, with a poor quality score.

UiPath

• UiPath Inc. (NYSE:PATH) fell 5.41% despite the company's fourth-quarter earnings exceeding expectations. The board also authorized a new $500 million share repurchase program. For fiscal 2027, UiPath expects revenue of $1.754 billion to $1.759 billion, above the $1.744 billion estimate

• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that PATH maintains a weaker price trend over the short, medium, and long terms, with a poor value ranking.

GlobalFoundries

• Globalfoundries Inc. (NASDAQ:GFS) plunged 4.15% after pricing a secondary offering of 20 million ordinary shares at $42.00 per share.

• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that GFS maintains a stronger price trend over the medium and long terms and a weak trend in the short term with a solid growth score.

Adobe

• Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) was down 0.36% as analysts expect it to report earnings of $5.87 per share on revenue of $6.28 billion, after the closing bell.

• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that ADBE maintains a weaker price trend over the short, medium, and long terms, with a moderate quality score.

Cues From Last Session

Only energy, communication services and information technology sectors rose on Wednesday, whereas other S&P 500 sectors declined amid a mixed close.

Index	Performance (+/-)	Value
Dow Jones	-0.61%	47,417.27
S&P 500	-0.084%	6,775.80
Nasdaq Composite	0.084%	22,716.14
Russell 2000	-0.20%	2,542.90

Insights From Analysts

According to BlackRock's March 2026 commentary, the firm remains overweight U.S. equities despite a Middle East conflict causing a “supply chain shock.” BlackRock anticipates the U.S. economy will prove more resilient than its international peers because it is less dependent on energy imports.

BlackRock expects the U.S. market to be driven by “strong corporate earnings, driven in part by the AI theme,” alongside “continued Federal Reserve easing.” While they see a risk of a stagflationary shock, they believe it is “not a given” and expect disruptions to last weeks rather than months.

However, the outlook for the broader economy involves “structurally sticky inflation.” Key points highlighting their stance include:

• “That leadership has reversed abruptly: equity markets in regions most dependent on energy imports have sagged sharply whereas the MSCI U.S. has been steady”.
• “We stay underweight long-term Treasuries and favor U.S. stocks”.
• “The yield increase aligns with our view that we are at risk of an inflationary supply shock, rather than a demand-driven growth slowdown”.

Ultimately, BlackRock views the U.S. as a relative haven, reinforcing their “long-held view of a world shaped by supply”.

Upcoming Economic Data

Here's what investors will be keeping an eye on Thursday.

• Labor Market Resilience: Initial jobless claims for the week ending March 7, 2026, decreased to 213,000 from 214,000 the previous week, remaining well below the long-term historical average of 360.48 thousand.
• Narrowing Trade Deficit: The U.S. international trade deficit narrowed sharply to $54.5 billion in January, a 25.3% decrease from the revised December level of $72.9 billion. This was driven by a 5.5% surge in exports to $302.1 billion, while imports dipped 0.7% to $356.6 billion.
• Mixed Housing Activity: January housing starts rose 7.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,487,000 units. Conversely, building permits—a leading indicator of future construction—fell 5.4% to an annual rate of 1,376,000.

Commodities, Crypto, And Global Equity Markets

Crude oil futures were trading higher in the early New York session by 5.67% to hover around $92.20 per barrel.

Gold Spot US Dollar rose 0.08% to hover around $5,180.31 per ounce. Its last record high stood at $5,595.46 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was 0.14% higher at the 99.3660 level.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) was trading 0.38% higher at $5,180.31 per coin, as per the last 24 hours.

Asian markets closed lower on Thursday, as Hong Kong's Hang Seng, India’s Nifty 50, Australia's ASX 200, China’s CSI 300, Japan's Nikkei 225, and South Korea's Kospi indices fell. European markets were also lower in early trade.

Photo courtesy: Shutterstock