Dow Jones futures rose 0.62% to trade near 46,500 during European trading hours on Thursday, before the US market opened. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures were also higher, rising 1.29% and 1.78% to about 6,750 and 25,150, respectively, at the time of writing.
US index futures rose as market confidence in artificial intelligence trading rebounded after Nvidia released strong quarterly results and an upbeat outlook on Wednesday. CEO Jensen Huang said demand for Blackwell’s chips was “off the charts.” Chipmakers and AI-related stocks, including AMD, Micron Technology, Broadcom and Palantir, also rose.
Traders are awaiting US September employment data later Thursday for a new direction on the Fed’s policy outlook. Markets expect nonfarm payrolls to rise by 50,000 in September 2025, up from 22,000 in August, while the unemployment rate is expected to remain at 4.3%. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said it will not publish its October regular employment report because household survey data cannot be collected retrospectively, adding that missing data will be included in the delayed November release.
Wall Street advanced in the regular session on Wednesday as markets trimmed their expectations for another interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve (Fed) in December following minutes from the latest Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. The Dow Jones rose 0.1%, the S&P 500 rose 0.38%, and the Nasdaq 100 rose 0.59%.
Minutes from the October 28-29 Federal Open Market Committee meeting showed that officials remain divided and cautious on the path of interest rates. While most respondents saw further rate cuts as likely over time, many did not view a December cut as appropriate. According to the CME FedWatch tool, markets are now pricing in a 34% chance of a 25 basis point cut in December, down from 50% just the day before.
Dow Jones FAQs
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is one of the oldest stock market indexes in the world, consisting of the 30 most actively traded stocks in the United States. The index is price-weighted and not market capitalization-weighted. It is calculated by summing the component stock prices and dividing them by a factor that currently amounts to 0.152. The index was founded by Charles Dow, who also founded the Wall Street Journal. In later years, it was criticized for not being broadly representative enough because it tracks only 30 conglomerates, unlike broader indices such as the S&P 500.
There are many different factors that drive the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). The overall performance of the constituent companies disclosed in the company’s quarterly earnings reports is the headline performance. US and global macroeconomic data also contribute to its impact on investor sentiment. The level of interest rates, set by the Federal Reserve (Fed), also affects the Dow Jones Industrial Average because it affects the cost of credit, on which many companies rely heavily. Therefore, inflation can be a key driver along with other metrics that influence the Fed’s decisions.
Dow Theory is a method of determining the fundamental trend of the stock market developed by Charles Dow. The basic step is to compare the trend of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and the Dow Jones Transportation Average (DJTA) and only follow trends where both are moving in the same direction. Size is a confirmatory criterion. The theory uses elements of peak and trough analysis. Dow Theory postulates three phases of a trend: accumulation, when smart money starts buying or selling; Public participation, when the wider public joins in; And distribution, when the smart money comes out.
There are a number of ways to trade the DJIA. The first is the use of ETFs that allow investors to trade the Dow Jones Industrial Average as a single security, rather than having to buy shares in all 30 component companies. A leading example of this is the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA). DJIA futures allow traders to speculate on the future value of an index and options provide the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell the index at a predetermined price in the future. Mutual funds enable investors to purchase a share of a diversified portfolio of DJIA stocks and thus provide exposure to the overall index.
