Jobless Claims Report Post-Fed Cut

Author

Tom White
September 18, 2025

U.S. stock futures are higher in premarket trading as investors continue to digest the 25 basis-point rate cut from the Fed on Wednesday afternoon.

During Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference, he put a damper on investor hopes that the central bank would be on a lengthy rate-cutting path this year, as he called the latest cut “risk management.” The Fed’s dot plot is showing two more 25 bps cuts this year, albeit by a slim margin as the divergence between members outlook remains in place.

Besides the fallout from the Fed decision, investors will watch for Jobless Claims data, which hit its highest level since 2021 last week.

Morning Movers

Snapshot (as of 7 AM ET)

  • Oil (/CL) – Oil prices are up 0.6% near $64.00 a barrel after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates as traders weighed the start of looser monetary policy against concerns about the U.S. economy.

  • Gold (/GC) – Gold is down 0.5% near $3700 off the previous session’s record high, pressured by an uptick in the dollar after the U.S. Federal Reserve adopted a measured tone on future easing following a widely expected 25 basis-point interest rate cut.

  • Bitcoin (/BTC) – The Crypto Future is up 1.3% near 117,400 in premarket trading.

  • VIX – The CBOE Volatility Index was down nearly 4% on Wednesday and settled at 15.72 as stocks were mixed after the rate cut from the Fed.

  • U.S. Dollar (/DX) – The dollar is slightly higher around 96.7.

Biggest Premarket Movers

Symbol

Product

Mark % Change (as of 7 AM ET)

INTC

Intel

+28.23%

SNPS

Synopsys

+11.66%

AMAT

Applied Materials

+5.89%

DRI

Darden Restaurants

-6.13%

AMD

AMD

-5.77%

NUE

Nucor

-3.71%

Economic Data

Time

Event

8:30AM ET

Jobless Claims

Philly Fed Mfg. Index

10:00AM ET

Leading Economic Indicators

10:30AM ET

Natural Gas Inventories

Notable Earnings

Premarket

Postmarket

Premarket Tomorrow

Postmarket Tomorrow

DRI, FDS

FDX, LEN, SCHL

None

None

Upgrades/Downgrades

  • RBC Capital upgrades Nike (NKE) to Outperform from Sector Perform

  • RBC Capital upgrades CSX (CSX) to Outperform from Sector Perform

  • Wolfe Research upgrades O’Reilly Automotive (ORLY) to Outperform from Peer Perform

  • UBS downgrades Box (BOX) to Neutral from Buy

  • UBS downgrades Dropbox (DBX) to Sell from Neutral

  • Wells Fargo downgrades Progressive (PGR) to Equal Weight from Overweight

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Data contained herein is obtained from what are considered reliable sources. However, its accuracy, completeness, or reliability cannot be guaranteed. All events and times listed are subject to change without notice.