United States stock futures advanced on Wednesday night (Thursday AEST), buoyed by robust earnings from major tech firms Microsoft and Meta Platforms, as investors navigated a dense corporate reporting season.
At 9:20 am AEST (11:20 pm GMT), Dow futures were up 0.2%, S&P 500 futures gained 0.8%, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 1.1%.
In after-hours trading, Microsoft surged 8.8% after posting fiscal fourth-quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $3.65, topping expectations of $3.37. Revenue climbed 18% year-on-year to US$76.44 billion, beating both the $64.7 billion posted a year earlier and the $73.86 billion forecast.
Meta Platforms jumped 11.5% after the company reported EPS of $7.14, ahead of the $5.88 expected, on revenue of $47.52 billion versus $44.81 billion forecast.
The social media giant also delivered an upbeat third-quarter revenue outlook of $47.5 billion to $50.5 billion, surpassing the expected $46.16 billion.
Qualcomm slipped 5.5% despite delivering EPS of $2.77 and revenue of $10.37 billion, narrowly beating estimates.
Ford Motor declined 1.2% postmarket after forecasting a $2 billion net tariff-related headwind to 2025 earnings before interest and taxes, stemming from a $3 billion gross impact partly offset by $1 billion in “recovery actions”.
Arm Holdings dropped 8.8% after reporting EPS of $0.35 in line with expectations, while revenue of $1.05 billion came in slightly below estimates.
Carvana soared 15.6% after its $4.84 billion revenue beat its $4.58 billion forecast.
eBay rallied 11.3% following stronger-than-expected Q2 earnings of $1.37 per share versus the $1.30 forecast, and revenue of $2.73 billion beating the $2.64 billion estimate.
Earlier in regular trading, Wall Street ended mixed as investors weighed remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who confirmed the central bank is not yet prepared to reduce interest rates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4%, the S&P 500 dipped 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2%.
The Fed left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at the July meeting, with some internal disagreements. Governors Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller dissented, preferring a rate cut. The federal funds rate remains at a range of 4.25% to 4.50%.
Attention now turns to economic data due Thursday. Investors will focus on the June personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge. Economists expect headline PCE to rise 2.5% year-on-year and 0.3% from the previous month. Weekly jobless claims will also be released.
Earnings reports are due from a slate of major companies before the U.S. open, including Comcast, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Cigna, CVS Health, Shake Shack, AbbVie and Mastercard. After the close, results from Apple and Amazon will be closely monitored.
