U.S. financial markets were uneven before the opening bell on Thursday, even as Delta Air Lines kicked off earnings season with solid results and an improved outlook for the rest of 2025.
Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were both essentially unchanged before markets opened. Futures for the Nasdaq, where the biggest U.S. technology companies trade, were up less than 0.1% following a rally on Wednesday that lifted the index to an all-time high.
Delta soared 12%, bringing other airlines along with it after beating Wall Street’s revenue and profit targets. The Atlanta airline also gave a more optimistic view for the remaining summer travel season than it had just a couple months ago.
Delta and other major U.S. carriers had pulled or slashed their forecasts in the spring, citing macroeconomic uncertainty amid President Donald Trump’s tariff rollouts which had consumers feeling uneasy about spending on travel.
Delta’s encouraging report boosted the entire airline sector, with United climbing 8% and American rising 7.4%.
Shares of WK Kellogg climbed more than 50% in premarket on a Wall Street Journal report that the Italian candy maker Ferrero was close to a $3 billion deal to acquire the American cereal company.
Elsewhere, in Asia, South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1.6% to finish at 3,183.23 after the Bank of Korea kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged and as semiconductor shares rose following Nvidia’s overnight rally on Wall Street.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.4 %, closing at 39,646.36, weighed down by selling of exporters’ shares amid the yen’s appreciation, which cuts profits from exports, and dampened sentiment because of the lack of progress in the Japan-U.S. tariff talks.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.7% to 24,057.09. The Shanghai Composite index rose 0.5% to 3,509.68. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.6% to 8,589.20.
In Europe at midday, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 1.2%, Germany’s DAX edged up 0.1% and the CAC 40 in Paris climbed 0.5%.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude lost 48 cents to $67.90 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, shed 38 cents to $69.81 per barrel.
The dollar slightly recovered against the Japanese currency, trading at 146.35 yen, up from 146.26 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1712 from $1.1723.
