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U.S. 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
-
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
YM00,
+0.95%
rose 341 points, or 1% to 33567. -
Futures on the S&P 500
ES00,
+1.55%
gained 69.25 points, or 1.7%, to 4250. -
Futures on the Nasdaq 100
NQ00,
+2.10%
increased 305.5 points, or 2.4% to 13315.
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 also will be looking at the first-quarter gross domestic product numbers.
“U.S. 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.
