Stock Market Today: Dow Jones, S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 Futures Trade Mixed After Post-Midterm Rally

U.S. stocks were mixed on Thursday, as the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq 100 index futures diverged, following Wednesday’s higher close.

U.S. nonfarm worker productivity grew by a robust 3.6% in the third quarter of 2026, successfully driving down unit labor costs as output outpaced a marginal increase in hours worked. Meanwhile, the labor market demonstrated ongoing resilience, with seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims for the week ending Oct. 31 dropping by 6,000 to a lower-than-expected 189,000.

Iran’s Security Chief Mohsen Rezaee said on Wednesday that Tehran had inflicted a political defeat on President Donald Trump, portraying the Republicans’ losses in the midterm elections as another consequence of Washington’s war with Iran. Axios reported on Wednesday that the U.S. military is wrapping up preparations for a potential return to major combat operations in Iran, including deploying additional military assets to the region.

Qatar is attempting to secure Washington and Tehran’s backing for a draft agreement that could prevent renewed fighting and potentially restart direct negotiations in the coming days.

Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.87%, and the 2-year Treasury bond yielded 4.58%, at the last check. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool projections show markets pricing in a 79.4% likelihood of the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates after its December meeting.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY), the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ: QQQ) and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (NYSE: DIA), which track the S&P 500 index, Nasdaq 100 index and Dow Jones Industrial Average, respectively, were mixed in premarket trading on Thursday. The SPY was up 0.086% at $767.47, the QQQ declined 0.84% to $686.17, and the DIA rose 0.63% to $536.45.