US pre-open: Futures mixed as government debt fears mount
By Benjamin Chiou
Date: Thursday 22 May 2025
(Sharecast News) - US stock futures were pointing to a mixed start on Wall Street on Thursday as fears about the rising cost of government debt hammered risk appetite.
By 0524 ET, Dow futures were down 0.1%, the S&P 500 futures was up 0.1% and the Nasdaq was rising 0.2%.
Markets fell sharply the previous session - indices recorded their steepest decline in a month - after softer-than-expected demand in a $16bn auction of 20-year bonds saw the coupon rate (5.047%) rise to its highest since 2020 when the maturity was reintroduced.
The weak auction comes amid mounting fears about the US government deficit with massive tax cuts put forward by president Donald Trump widely expected to make matters worse. Meanwhile, last Friday's decision by Moody's to cut the US credit rating from the highest rating Aaa to Aa1 was also weighing on sentiment.
10-year US Treasury yields were pulling back 2.1 basis points to 4.584% in pre-market trade after rising a four-month high of 4.598% on Wednesday, while the 30-year bond yield jumped to its highest (5.099%) since 2023.
"While the rise in bond yields has been a long-standing phenomenon, there is a feeling that we are going to see markets grow increasingly concerned if this lack of demand pushes borrowing costs ever higher," said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets.
Thursday's session will see the release of a flurry of economic indicators, including weekly jobless claims, the flash reading of the S&P Global PMIs for May, existing home sales, and closely watched manufacturing gauges from Chicago and Kansas.
In corporate news, shares in Zoom were rising pre-market after the video-conferencing firm pointed to FY26 revenues of $4.80bn-4.81bn, marginally ahead of the $4.79bn consensus forecast.
Lumen is expected to surge when markets open after the news that AT&T will buy most of its Mass Markets fibre internet connectivity business for $5.75bn.
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