Stock market today: Wall Street mixed in premarket as airlines drag and insurance companies rise

Wall Street was mixed in premarket trading on Thursday as major U.S. airlines stumbled and health insurance companies soared.

Futures for the S&P 500 lost 0.1% before the opening bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up 0.1%.

Shares of most major U.S. airlines dipped after American Airlines posted strong profits but said it expected to lose money in the first quarter. Its shares were down 7.5% before markets opened. United Airlines, which reported strong results after markets closed on Wednesday, was down 2.2%. JetBlue fell 2.5% and Southwest dipped 1.6%. Both companies report their latest results next week.

Elevance Health led the insurance sector higher after it beat Wall Street's sales and profit targets and raised its dividend. Elevance rose 5.5% before the bell, followed by Cigna, which rose 3.8% and UnitedHealth Group which gained 1.6%. CVS Health inched up 1.3%.

Video game maker Electronic Arts slumped more than 17% after it released preliminary results that disappointed investors. EA said an unexpected dropoff in bookings in its global football division was the main culprit.

GE Aerospace climbed 5.5% after it easily beat Wall Street's sales and profit expectations.

Investors are also waiting for the government's latest report on jobless benefit applications, which are expected to come in within the healthy range they've been in for years.

In Europe at midday Germany's DAX gained 0.3% and the CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.4%. Britain's FTSE 100 was up about 0.2%.

Elsewhere, China rolled out more moves to try to boost its lagging stock markets by raising confidence that prices will rise.

Officials in Beijing said Chinese pension funds and mutual funds would be required to increase purchases of shares, to guarantee that market value rises. Listed companies will also be encouraged to do more stock buybacks and raise dividends to improve shareholder returns, the head of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Wu Qing told reporters.

Share prices in Shanghai bounced higher, closing up 0.5% at 3,230.16. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped after initial gains, losing 0.4% to 19,700.56.

“The relief over Donald Trump not announcing new tariffs on China during his inauguration didn’t last long,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya of Swissquote Bank said in a commentary, noting the U.S. president's comment that he still plans new 10% tariffs on imports of Chinese goods. With buying enthusiasm weak, “the shooting star pattern of today hints that sentiment remains bearish for Chinese equities,” she wrote.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index gained 0.8% to 39,958.87.

Fuji Media Holdings dropped 7.8% after Masahiro Nakai, one of Japan’s top TV hosts and a former pop star, said Thursday he was retiring to take responsibility over sexual assault allegations that are part of a wave roiling Japan’s entertainment industry. The Fuji TV scandal triggered an avalanche of lost advertising at one of the networks where he worked.

Elsewhere in Asia, the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia fell 0.6% to 8,378.70, while the Kospi in Seoul lost 1.2% to 2,515.49.

India's Sensex rose 0.3% while the SET in Bangkok shed 0.7%.

In the cryptocurrency market, where prices have surged on hopes President Donald Trump will make Washington friendlier to the industry, bitcoin was sitting below $102,000, according to CoinDesk. It had set a record above $109,000 on Monday.

In energy trading, U.S. benchmark crude oil added 17 cents to $75.61 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 20 cents to $79.20 per barrel.

The dollar declined to 156.38 Japanese yen from 156.43 yen. The euro ticked down to $1.0404 from $1.0411.