U.S. stock futures were fighting for gains in premarket trading on Friday, with tech in the black after shares of two heavyweights — Google parent Alphabet Inc. and Netflix Inc. — responded positively to corporate news.
How are stock-index futures trading?
-
S&P 500 futures
ES00
rose 5.2 points to 3,920.75 -
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures
YM00
were down 25 points at 33,114 -
Nasdaq-100 futures
NQ00
rose 52 points, or 0.4%, to 11,406.75
On Thursday, the Dow industrials
DJIA
tumbled 252.40 points, or 0.8%, to turn negative on the year. The S&P 500
SPX
fell 0.8% and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP
shed 1%,. The session marked the third-straight loss for the S&P 500 and the Dow industrials.
What’s driving markets?
All three indexes are facing weekly losses of at least 2%, with the S&P 500 down 3.6% as of Thursday’s session. Investors have been dogged this week by mixed signals on the economy’s strength ahead of a Federal Reserve policy meeting in early February.
Data for Friday will include existing home sales at 10 a.m. Eastern Time, with comments from Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Patrick Harker expected ahead of that at 9 a.m., followed by remarks later in the day from Fed Gov. Christopher Waller.
Investors have been closely monitoring comments by Fed speakers for clues about the central bank’s tightening plans in light of updates that included weak industrial production. Ten
BX:TMUBMUSD10Y
and 2-year Treasury
BX:TMUBMUSD02Y
yields were rising, continuing to bounce off four-month lows.
Markets have also been juggling corporate earnings reports, which have been something of a mixed bag. Next week will bring a massive lineup, including Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
3M Co.
MMM,
Tesla Inc.
TSLA,
Boeing Co.
BA,
McDonald’s Corp.
MCD
and more.
Shares of Netflix Inc.
NFLX
climbed 5% in premarket trading after the video-streaming company announced it had gained 7.7 million new subscribers in the final quarter, and founder Reed Hastings said he’ll move to executive chairman and a new co-CEO was named.
Opinion: Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings showed Silicon Valley the proper leadership path
Those results may be lending support to Nasdaq-100 futures, alongside a gain for Google parent Alphabet Inc.
GOOGL,
which announced 12,000 jobs will be cut globally, in an announcement on Friday. Those layoffs add to a string of tech companies making similar announcements, such as Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN
and Microsoft and Intel Corp.
INTC
Read: Intel cuts hundreds more jobs in California, and indicates more to come