U.S. stock index futures were softer on Friday, as investors weighed up fresh inflation data and technology stocks braced for more losses after disappointing results from industry giants Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc.
How are stock-index futures trading?
- S&P 500 futures ES00, -1.14% fell 0.7% to 4,250
- Dow Jones Industrial Average futures YM00, -0.54% dropped 90 points, or 0.3%, to 33,736
- Nasdaq-100 futures NQ00, -1.41% dropped 1% to 13,314.
On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.85% rose 614.46 points, or 1.9%, to 33,916.39, the S&P 500 SPX, +2.47% gained 103.54 points, or 2.5%, finishing at 4,287.50. The Nasdaq Composite COMP, +3.06% climbed 382.59 points, or 3.1%, closing at 12,871.53, following a brief foray into negative territory.
The Dow and S&P 500 marked their best daily percentage climbs since March 9, while the Nasdaq saw its best day since March 16, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
What’s driving markets?
Friday marks the last trading day of April, which is on the verge of being the worst month for the S&P 500 — down 5.3% — since March 2020. The Nasdaq is down 9.4% and is also facing its worst monthly return since that pandemic low, according to FactSet.
The month has been consumed by worries on several fronts, including the U.S. economy as well as China’s — as that country sees climbing COVID-19 cases — and also Russia’s continued war in Ukraine.
“The petrified tail-chasing we have seen this week as equity markets swing from ‘we’re all doomed, get me out,’ to ‘I don’t want to miss the absolute bottom of the stock market, get me in’ is perhaps indicative of the state of confusion out there,” Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at Oanda, told clients in a note.
On the heels of Thursday’s weak U.S. first quarter economic growth data, the Federal Reserve’s favored inflation gauge — the core personal consumer expenditure price index for March —rose 0.3% with the headline index up 0.9%f First quarter employment cost index accelerated to 1.4% from 1.0%.
See: U.S. inflation rate surges to 6.6% based on PCE index — but there’s a silver lining
The data comes ahead of next week’s two-day Fed meeting, which many expect will conclude with a 50 basis-point interest-rate increase. Still to come Friday is the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index for April.
Tech stocks, whose earnings have dominated the week, are expected to drive much of the action on Friday. Apple Inc. AAPL, +4.52% stock was down 2.5% in premarket action after the tech giant topped earnings and set a revenue record, but warned of billions in added costs from supply-chain woes.
And Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, +4.65% reported its first loss in seven years and executives said it would look to cut costs. Those shares fell 8% in premarket trading.
Investors were weighing up results from Chevron Corp. CVX, +3.55%, Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM, +3.02%, Honeywell International Inc. HON, +1.92%, AbbVie Inc. ABBV, -0.83% and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. BMY, +1.83%.
Elsewhere, the dollar DXY, -0.39% was paring strength after Thursday’s massive rally, with the euro EURUSD, +0.33% and pound GBPUSD, +0.78% both clawing back lost ground, though the Japanese yen USDJPY, -0.48% continued to slide, a day after the Bank of Japan vowed to maintain a dovish policy stance.
Asian markets got a lift after China’s top policy-making body vowed to set up policy support for the economy as the country battles COVID outbreaks.
Which companies are in focus?
- Intel Corp. INTC, +3.58% shares fell 3.5%, after the chip maker stuck to its full-year outlook amid expected weakness this quarter.
- Roku Inc. ROKU, +8.11% shares rose 2.8%, after the maker of digital media reported forecast-beating fiscal first-quarter revenue and earnings largely in line with projections.
- Robinhood Markets Inc. shares HOOD, +6.10% dropped 11% after the brokerage missed first-quarter forecasts and said fewer people were trading on its online platform.
- Tesla Inc. shares TSLA, -0.45% rose 3% in premarket trade. CEO Elon Musk tweeted late Thursday that he has no plans to sell more stock, after a Securities and Exchange Commission filing showed he sold nearly $4 billion in stock of the electric car maker amid his $44 billion deal for Twitter.
- Colgate-Palmolive Co. CL, +0.66% shares fell 5% after the consumer goods maker said a tough cost environment to continued to weigh on profit.
Other assets
- The yield on the 10-year Treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y, 2.899% jumped 8 basis points to 2.884%, following the latest inflation data. Yields and debt prices move opposite each other.
- Oil futures pushed higher, with the U.S. benchmark CL.1, +1.29% up 0.% to $106.32 a barrel. Gold futures GC00, +1.07% climbed 1% to $1,912.70 an ounce.
- Bitcoin BTCUSD, -2.11% fell 2% to trade near $38,974.
- The Stoxx Europe 600 SXXP, +0.91% rose 0.9%, while London’s FTSE 100 UKX, +0.43% advanced 0.4%.
- The Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, +2.41% climbed 2.4%, while the Hang Seng Index HSI, +4.01% in Hong Kong jumped 4% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 NIK, +1.75% was closed for a national holiday.
This article was originally published by Marketwatch.com. Read the original article here.
