Stock futures Thursday after the S&P 500 strung together a third consecutive advance in reaction to the Trump administration and China hammering out a temporary suspension of their tit-for-tat tariff dispute. Futures tied to the S&P 500 were down 0.5%, while Nasdaq-100 futures dropped 0.7%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 164 points, or 0.4%. Shares of Foot Locker surged more than 82% after the company announced that it would merge with Dick’s Sporting Goods for $2.4 billion. UnitedHealth slid 6% after the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar, that the Justice Department is probing the insurer. A UnitedHealth spokesman later told CNBC that the insurer has not been notified by the DOJ of the “supposed” investigation reported. Confidence in the immediate outlook for stocks has strengthened in the wake of last weekend’s talks between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese officials that appeared to stave off a short-term decline in economic activity and a ratcheting up in inflation. The enthusiasm mostly continued Wednesday, with the S&P 500 advancing 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite rising 0.7%. It was also the sixth straight winning day for the tech-heavy index. The 30-stock Dow slipped 0.2%. Tech giants are putting up a strong showing week to date: Nvidia and Tesla are both up more than 16%, and Meta Platforms has added 11.3% in the period. Amazon and Alphabet are both up more than 8% each. The Nasdaq Composite is higher by 6.8% this week, trailed by the S&P 500, ahead 4.11%, and the Dow, up 1.9%. Sentiment was bolstered Tuesday by the latest reading on consumer inflation showing prices rising at a slower pace than Wall Street economists had expected. Inflation increased by 0.2% in April excluding food and energy, below the consensus estimate of 0.3%. Traders will look for further signs of a steady economy on Thursday, when the producer price index, retail sales and industrial production numbers for April are released before the stock market opens. Weekly jobless claims are also slated for release. Also due out: earnings for the fiscal first-quarter from Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer. U.S. Treasury yields moved lower on Thursday as investors awaited a batch of economic data and more insights on inflation amid a U.S.-China trade agreement. The 10-year Treasury yield declined by just over one basis point to one basis points to 4.513%, and the 2-year Treasury yield fell by more than 2 basis points to 4.028%. Asia-Pacific markets mostly fell Thursday, breaking ranks with Wall Street as investors assessed U.S.-China trade developments. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.98% to close at 37,755.51, while the Topix lost 0.88% to end the trading day at 2,738.96. South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.73% to close at 2,621.36 while the small-cap Kosdaq slipped 0.79% to close at 733.23. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 0.82%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 lost 0.87%. India’s Nifty 50 slipped 0.16%. Oil prices fell sharply on Thursday on expectations that the U.S. and Iran may soon reach a deal over Tehran’s nuclear program. International benchmark Brent crude futures with July expiry were last seen trading 3.2% lower at $63.99 a barrel, paring some of its earlier losses. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures, meanwhile, stood at $60.98, down 3.4% for the session. Gold prices fell to their lowest in more than a month on Thursday, as easing trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies dented demand and investors awaited U.S. economic data for further clarity on future interest rates. Spot gold was down 0.8% to $3,154.16 an ounce as of 0838 GMT, after hitting its lowest since April 10 earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures fell 1% to $3,157.30. “The bears are running rampant just now on the basis that the market was clearly overbought,” Ross Norman, an independent analyst, said.