Traders on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange on August 4, 2022.
Source: New York Stock Exchange
S&P 500 Index Futures Shares of Big Tech companies Alphabet and Microsoft rose in overnight trading Thursday on strong earnings.
Futures tied to broader market indexes rose 0.7%, Nasdaq 100 Index Futures rose 1%.Futures on Dow Jones Industrial Average An increase of 30 points, or 0.08%.
shares letter The company rose 11% in after-hours trading after first-quarter earnings beat expectations.
Microsoft Shares of the software maker rose 4% after its fiscal third-quarter results beat Wall Street expectations.
Strength in these large-cap stocks could boost major indexes after a day of losses on Wall Street.The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 375 points on Thursday, while S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Index Decreased 0.5% and 0.6% respectively.
Thursday’s sell-off was triggered by new U.S. economic data that showed a sharp slowdown in economic growth and pointed to persistent inflation. Gross domestic product grew 1.6% in the first quarter, compared with Dow Jones forecast of 2.4%. At the same time, the personal consumption expenditures price index rose by 3.4% during the period, much higher than the 1.8% increase in the previous quarter.
“The Fed will be more worried about above-target inflation in the first quarter than a slowdown in growth,” said Bill Adams, chief economist at Allied Bank. “The Fed is likely to slow down asset prices over the next few meetings.” The pace of balance sheet reduction will continue, but interest rate cuts will not begin until September.”
Still, the major averages are poised for gains this week. The S&P 500 is up 1.6% so far this week and is expected to break a three-week losing streak. The Nasdaq rose more than 2%, heading for its first weekly gain in five weeks. The Dow edged up 0.3% for the week.
So far, about 38% of S&P 500 companies have reported quarterly results, with nearly 80% beating earnings estimates.
Investors are awaiting more earnings reports from major energy companies Chevron and Exxon Mobil before the bell on Friday.
On the economic data front, personal consumption expenditures data for March will also be released on Friday morning. This inflation measure is closely watched by the Federal Reserve.
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