Trading within the U.S. index futures suggests a cautious start by Wall Street stocks, as traders look forward to more earnings and the advance fourth-quarter GDP report.
Cues From Wednesday’s Trading:
On Wednesday, stocks opened notably lower, weighed down by a disappointing earnings report from Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) that solid a cloud on the tech sector as a complete. The main averages trimmed their losses over the course of the session before ending narrowly mixed.
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tilities, IT & IT Services, communication services and industrial stocks lost ground within the session, while consumer and financial stocks showed some strength.
| Index | Performance (+/-) | Value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nasdaq Composite | -0.18% | 11,313.36 | |
| S&P 500 Index | -0.02% | 4,016.22 | |
| Dow Industrials | +0.03% | 33,743.84 |
Analyst Color:
Microsoft’s commentary on the earnings call nervous the market, which is so intensely concerned about economic growth, LPL Financial chief global strategist Quincy Crosby said in a note. The message from Microsoft’s management was “the economy is slowing, and their customers are more cautious about spending,” the analyst said.
“There’s still a protracted option to go throughout the reporting season, but guidance is becoming much more vital than it was before last night’s Microsoft earnings call,” he added.
Futures Today:
| Index | Performance (+/-) | |
|---|---|---|
| Nasdaq 100 Futures | +0.66% | |
| S&P 500 Futures | +0.25% | |
| Dow Futures | +0.03% | |
| R2K Futures | +0.26% |
In premarket trading on Thursday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) rose 0.29%, to $401.50, and the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) climbed 0.67%, to $289.66, in response to Benzinga Pro data.
Upcoming Economic Data:
The Bureau of Economic Evaluation will release the primary read of the fourth-quarter GDP at 8:30 a.m. EST. Economists, on average, expect the year-over-year growth to slow from 3.2% within the third quarter to 2.6%. Traders can also keep watch over the pricing component report, namely the GDP price deflator.
The Labor Department will release its weekly jobless claims report around the identical time. The number of people claiming unemployment advantages can have are available at 205,000 within the week ended Jan. 21, in comparison with 190,000 the previous week.
At 8:30 a.m. EST, the Commerce Department will release the durables goods orders report for December. The consensus calls for a 2.5% month-over-month increase, reversing from the two.1% decline in November.
The Commerce Department can be scheduled to release the brand new homes sales report for December at 10 a.m. EST. Latest home sales can have declined 4.7% month-over-month to 617,000 units.
At 11:30 a.m. EST, the Kansas City Fed is scheduled to announce its composite and manufacturing indices for January.
The Treasury will conduct four-week bill and seven-year note auctions at 11:30 a.m. EST.
Stocks In Focus:
- Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Seagate Technology Holding Inc. (NASDAQ:STX) rallied over 7% in premarket trading following the discharge of their quarterly results.
- International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) fell about 2% on an earnings miss.
- Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CVX) jumped about 3%, reacting to the corporate’s announcement regarding $75 billion price of stock buyback and dividend raise.
Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ:LRCX) retreated about 2% on weak forecasts and the corporate’s announcement regarding job cuts.
Notable Corporations reporting earnings:
Before the open:
- Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE:NOC)
- American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL)
- Alaska Air Group Inc. (NYSE:ALK)
- JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ:JBLU)
- Southwest Airlines Company (NYSE:LUV)
- Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)
- Mastercard Inc. (NYSE:MA)
- Xerox Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:XRX)
After the close:
- Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC)
- Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)
- KLA Corp. (NASDAQ:KLAC)
Commodities, Bonds, Other Global Equity Markets:
Crude oil futures advanced moderately on Thursday, adding to the previous session’s gains. Bonds are languishing, with the 10-year U.S. Treasury note’s yield trading at 3.473%.
The Asia-Pacific markets that were open for trading closed Thursday’s session mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 snapped a five-session winning streak and closed modestly lower and the Hong Kong market, which reopened following the Lunar Latest Yr holiday, advanced notably.
The Chinese, Taiwanese, Australian and Indian markets were closed for public holidays.
European stocks were uniformly higher in late-morning deals.
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