Stock Market 8 January 2026

U.S. stock index futures slipped on Thursday morning as investors turned cautious ahead of Friday’s U.S. jobs report, while defense shares jumped after President Donald Trump called for a $1.5 trillion military budget in 2027. At 05:08 a.m. ET, Dow futures were down 0.30%, S&P 500 futures fell 0.22% and Nasdaq 100 futures eased 0.31%; RTX gained 4.9% in premarket trading and Lockheed Martin climbed 7.2%. “While details are unclear and implementation cumbersome, a move towards more government intervention would create uncertainty and add to some risk premium in the markets,” said Mohit Kumar, an economist at Jefferies. Reuters The early pullback comes after a strong start to 2026 for risk assets, but traders are still treating geopolitics as a live wire — from Venezuela’s oil flows to talk around Greenland — and the market has started to price a little more noise. European aerospace and defense stocks hit fresh highs, oil clawed back above $60 a barrel and Wall Street futures softened. “What investors are realising is that the threat of geopolitics is not going away,” said Peter McLean, head of multi-asset portfolio solutions at Stonehage Fleming Investment Management. Reuters