U.S. futures for stock index indicate a positive beginning on Friday, concluding a challenging week. This is due to the encouraging performance of Amazon.com, a large technology company, and the release of new data on spending and inflation.
What’s happening
- Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, YM00, -0.18%, increased by 29 points, or 0.1%, reaching a total of 32907.
- The S&P 500 futures, ES00, saw a 0.23% increase of 20 points, which is equivalent to a 0.5% gain, reaching a value of 4176.
- The Nasdaq 100 futures, also known as NQ00, rose by 127 points or 0.9% to 14319 with a 1.08% increase.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 252 points, or 0.76%, to 32784 on Thursday. The S&P 500 declined by 50 points, or 1.18%, to 4137, while the Nasdaq Composite saw a drop of 226 points, or 1.76%, to 12596.
According to UBS, the majority of companies in the S&P 500 have experienced a decline in their stock prices since Friday, resulting in a 2.1% drop in the overall index for the week.
What’s driving markets
Amazon.com, with a 6.66% increase, announced profits that exceeded expectations. This demonstrated the company’s improvement in increasing profits, both in its retail division and its cloud services. Intel, with a 9.82% increase, also surpassed predictions. These positive earnings contrasted with the disappointing earnings of Tesla Inc., Alphabet Inc., and Meta Platforms Inc., which were part of the group referred to as the “Magnificent Seven.”
Krupa Patel, head of international market intelligence at JPMorgan, stated that positive earnings from U.S. tech companies (Amazon/Intel) last night, along with better-than-anticipated industrial profits in China this morning, have boosted global risk sentiment. As a result, stocks in all regions are trading positively.
Investors were also paying close attention to the recent PCE data, which is the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation. The PCE price index showed that the cost of goods and services went up by 0.4% in September, which was higher than what was anticipated. However, core inflation matched the expected outcome.
In September, the data indicated a significant increase of 0.7% in consumer spending, which confirms previous indications of strong spending seen in retail sales data.
Later in the morning, investors will be provided with an update on consumer sentiment by the University of Michigan.
China stated that there was an 11.9% increase in industrial profits compared to the previous year in September.
However, the news about earnings was not entirely positive. Ford Motor Co. decided to withdraw guidance, and Enphase Energy, being a solar company, issued a profit warning.
The price of crude oil for future delivery increased following a military attack by the United States on facilities in Syria that were connected to Iran.
According to FactSet, the S&P 500 is likely to finish the week with another loss, extending its streak of consecutive weekly declines. This means that U.S. stocks are continuing to perform poorly.
Companies in focus
- Shares of Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) surged by 5% during premarket trading following an impressive financial performance that surpassed expectations.
- Shares of Intel Corp, trading under the ticker symbol INTC, experienced a significant increase of 10.29%, surging by 8% following the chipmaker’s impressive performance in the third quarter, surpassing market predictions. Additionally, Intel provided a positive outlook for the present quarter.
- Ford Motor Company’s stocks decreased by 4% when the company decided to retract its guidance. The reason for this action was attributed to the impending agreement with the United Auto Workers. Another factor that impacted the stock value was the revelation of a significant loss amounting to $1.3 billion for Ford’s electric vehicle unit.
- Exxon Mobil Corp, a major oil company, experienced a 0.3% decline in premarket trading on Friday. This was a result of their third-quarter earnings report, which revealed a lower-than-expected profit and revenue due to a decrease in production. However, the company did exceed expectations in terms of free cash flow by a significant amount.
- The stock of Chevron Corporation, with the ticker symbol CVX, fell by 1.4% in premarket trading on Friday due to the company’s third-quarter profit being significantly lower than expected.
