Stock market news today: Futures mixed as Salesforce lifts Dow, Treasury slide continues

Stock futures were mixed on Thursday morning as investors digested more big tech earnings and continued to weigh the implications of the recent backup in Treasury yields ahead of the Federal Reserve’s next policy meeting in less than three weeks.

Near 8:30 a.m. ET, S&P 500 futures were down 0.4%, Nasdaq futures were off 0.7%, while Dow futures were higher by 0.2%.

Rates remain a key focus for investors, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note standing north of 4% after hitting this level on Wednesday for the first time since Nov. 2022.

On the front end of the Treasury curve, the yield on 2-year notes continues to trade near its highest level since 2007. The 2-year yield, which stood near 4.8% on Thursday morning, is seen as the best proxy for investor expectations of the Fed’s near-term path for interest rates.

In single-stock moves, shares of Salesforce (CRM) were up as much as 15% early Thursday as investors cheered the company’s latest quarterly report, which saw the embattled Dow member double-down on cost-cutting initiatives and shareholder return plans.

In an interview with Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi late Wednesday, salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff said in reference to the company’s efficiency initiatives: “We have hit the hyper-space button.”

The company announced in its quarterly report an increase in its billion share repurchase authorization to $20 billion, with COO Brian Millham telling investors on a call, “We’re inspecting every part of our business to find opportunities to drive efficiencies and reduce cost of sales, marketing, and G&A.”

Salesforce’s 15% jump, which is good for a roughly $26 per share increase in the stock price, was adding roughly 170 points to the price-weighted Dow index.

Elsewhere in single-stock moves, shares of troubled bank Silvergate (SI) were down as much as 35% early Thursday after the company delayed the filing of its annual report and said it would likely report losses larger than previously disclosed.

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The bank took on several high-profile crypto clients in recent years and has seen its share price collapse by more than 90% in the wake of the failure of FTX among other crypto bankruptcies.

Tesla (TSLA) shares were also in focus early Thursday, falling as much as 7% after the electric carmaker held its latest investor day on Wednesday, which revealed few new product details but emphasized the company’s push to unlock new efficiencies in its manufacturing and design processes.

On the economic data side, the weekly report on initial jobless claims showed 190,000 new filings for unemployment insurance were made last week, the latest sign the labor market remains robust. Though tomorrow marks the first Friday of the month, the February jobs report will not be released until March 10.

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