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Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq futures edge up with rate-cut bets, Walmart earnings in focus

Rian Howlett and Karen Friar

Updated Thu, February 19, 2026 at 5:13 PM GMT+9 1 min read

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US stock futures leaned higher on Thursday as investors digested minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting and geared up for Walmart (WMT) earnings for insight into the American consumer.

Contracts on the S&P 500 (ES=F) ticked about 0.2% higher, while those on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) moved up 0.3%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) hovered just above the flatline, following a solid advance across the major benchmarks the previous session.

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Investors parsed minutes from the Fed’s January meeting, which revealed deep divides among policymakers regarding the path forward for interest rates. But even as the minutes revealed talk of potential rate hikes amid stubborn inflation, investor expectations for two rate cuts by the end of the year were not immediately swayed.

On the economic calendar, traders will turn their focus to weekly jobless claims data due Thursday, along with the pending home sales report.

Earnings continue, with Walmart (WMT) acting as a bellwether for the health of the retail sector, reporting before the market opens Thursday.

Elsewhere, tariff headlines have returned as President Trump’s administration lashed out against the New York Federal Reserve. The regional Fed bank earned the White House’s ire by releasing a report indicating that US consumers and businesses are bearing the brunt of the fiscal weight of Trump’s favorite economic tool.

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