US stock futures pointed to a stronger start on Thursday, boosted by results from Facebook parent Meta Platforms that weren’t as bad as anticipated.
What’s happening
On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA,
rose 62 points, or 0.19%, to 33302, the S&P 500 SPX,
increased 9 points, or 0.21%, to 4184, and the Nasdaq Composite comp,
dropped 2 points, or 0.01%, to 12489.
What’s driving markets
The results from Meta Platforms FB,
weren’t well ahead of consensus, as revenue actually came in weaker than forecast, but expectations were low given the 48% decline this year in the stock.
In premarket trade, Meta shares stormed 17% higher.
Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said the Meta results weren’t great, but weren’t horrible either.
Meta’s better-than-forecast subscriber numbers sets the stage for two other megacap tech stock results after the close, Amazon.com AMZN,
and Apple AAPL,
Though the stock-market decline for Amazon hasn’t been as severe as Meta’s, its stock is just 2% above its 52-week intraday low.
Besides the tech results, investors will also be looking at the first-quarter gross domestic product numbers.
“US GDP data to show notable slowdown – and possible contraction – in first quarter as negative contributions from net trade and inventories offset steady private domestic demand,” said Chris Scicluna, head of economic research for Daiwa Capital Markets Europe.
The yen USDJPY,
meanwhile slumped to a fresh 20-decade low after the Bank of Japan didn’t alter its easy monetary policy stance.
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Credit: www.marketwatch.com /