Russell 2k futures reached 2,027.8, with momentum indicators flashing bullish divergence on the 4-hour chart—a positive technical signal for near-term traders. Pre-market futures are lower this morning, on what is likely a combination of effects: Weekly Jobless Claims numbers that are pushing up through previous ranges, wholesale economic reads that were better than expected but still elevated, and a dearth of news on the pending trade agreement between the U.S. and China that President Trump announced Wednesday morning. In fairness, these futures were down ahead of these reports hitting the tape. Partly, especially on the blue-chip Dow, due to a tragic plane crash in the city of Ahmedabad in the western region of Gujarat in India. The jet was a Dreamliner 787-8, and while details on why the crash happened — to say nothing of the 242 people aboard the plane, and those in the apartment buildings where the plane crashed — have yet to be determined, Boeing BA shares are down -7% on this news. This all said, the Dow is -225 points at this moment in today’s pre-market, the S&P 500 is -25 and the Nasdaq is -85 points. The small-cap Russell 2000 is down -15 points at this hour. We were at weekly and monthly highs just yesterday morning, but it looks as if we may need to earn that level again from here. Speaking at a press conference on Monday, President Donald Trump signaled that he'd be open to allowing Nvidia to sell a downgraded version of Blackwell, its most advanced artificial intelligence chip, to China. Russell 2k futures up-ticked to 2,026.2 after better-than-expected retail sales data, hinting at resilient consumer demand in small-cap-heavy sectors.