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U.S. equity futures edged modestly higher in early trading, extending gains from last night’s solid close as investors shifted focus from trade tensions to a busy slate of corporate earnings and tomorrow’s key January jobs report.
Stocks ended higher on Wednesday amid a pullback in Treasury bond yields tied in part to solid, but not runaway, data on services growth and private sector job creation. Tech stocks were held down by big declines for Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) and AI chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) following muted outlooks that clouded their solid fourth quarter earnings updates.
Amazon (AMZN) will round out the tech earnings run this week with its fourth quarter update after the close of trading, with investors likely focused on the tech and retail giant’s capital spending plans for the coming year.
Several non-tech companies will also publish fourth quarter updates prior to the opening bell as a solid earnings season, which is likely to see collective S&P 500 profits rise 11.5% to $529.1 billion, hits the mid-way mark.
Amazon will post fourth quarter earnings after the close of trading.
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Bristol-Myers (BMY) , Honeywell (HON) , Eli Lilly (LLY) and L’Oreal (LRLCY) are all on deck this morning, with the Labor Department also set to publish its weekly data on jobless claims heading into tomorrow’s January jobs report.
On that end, benchmark Treasury bond yields were modestly lower heading into the start of the New York trading session, in part tied to comments from new Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who told Fox News that he and President Donald Trump’s are targeting lower market rates, not Fed policy.
“He is not calling for the Fed to lower rates. He and I are focused on the 10-year Treasury,” Bessent said.
Related: Goldman Sachs analysts warn on Trump tariff impact for stocks
Heading into the start of the trading day on Wall Street, futures contracts tied to the S&P 500 suggest a modest 6 point opening bell gain, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average priced for a 56 point bump.
The tech-focused Nasdaq, meanwhile, is called 5 points higher with Nvidia (NVDA) , Tesla (TSLA) and Intel (INTC) active in premarket trading.
Ford Motor (F) shares were a notable early mover, falling 5.8% in premarket trading to $9.42 each following a disappointing fourth quarter update last night that included a profit forecast for 2025 that is lower than the previous year.
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In overseas markets, both major benchmarks in Europe hit fresh all-time highs, with the Stoxx 600 last marked 0.8% higher and Britain’s FTSE 100 rising 1.24% in London ahead of today’s Bank of England rate decision.
Overnight in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.61% in a follow-on move from last night’s gains on Wall Street, with the regional MSCI ex-Japan index rising 0.49% into the close of trading.
Related: Veteran fund manager issues dire S&P 500 warning for 2025
