United States equity futures were little changed on Thursday evening (Friday AEST), as investors weighed a flurry of tech earnings and looked ahead to the highly anticipated July employment report.
By 8:40 am AEST (10:40 pm GMT) Dow futures were down 0.1%, while S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 0.2% apiece.
In extended deals, Apple rose 2.1% in after-hours trading after the company reported better-than-expected results for its fiscal third quarter. Earnings per share (EPS) came in at $1.57, topping the expected $1.43, while revenue was reported at $94.04 billion, well ahead of the $89.35 billion expected.
It was Apple’s strongest quarterly revenue growth since December 2021.
Conversely, Amazon shed 6.7% after issuing a softer-than-expected forecast, despite exceeding earnings and revenue expectations.
The e-commerce giant projected operating income between US$15.5 billion and $20.5 billion for the current quarter, compared with estimates of $19.48 billion.
Clorox gained 1.2% after posting better-than-expected financial results. The company reported adjusted EPS of $2.87 on $1.99 billion in revenue, beating market expectations of $2.20 per share and $1.93 billion in revenue.
Reddit jumped 15.8% following its second-quarter earnings report. The social media platform delivered EPS of $0.45 on $500 million in revenue, exceeding expectations of $0.19 and $425.7 million, respectively.
For the third quarter, Reddit guided revenue between $535 million and $545 million, comfortably beating estimates of $473.3 million.
First Solar added 5.5% after beating top and bottom-line estimates. The solar manufacturer posted EPS of $3.18 on $1.1 billion in revenue, surpassing expectations of $2.66 and $1.04 billion.
On the downside, Coinbase fell more than 8.8% after missing revenue expectations. The crypto platform reported second-quarter revenue of $1.5 billion, short of the $1.59 billion expected. However, diluted net income per share was reported at $5.14, well ahead of the $1.25 expected.
The futures action followed a muted Thursday trading session, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 0.7%, the S&P 500 declined 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite eased 0.03%.
Attention now turns to nonfarm payroll data, with markets expecting an increase of 110,000 in payrolls, alongside a slight rise in the unemployment rate to 4.2%.
The data is expected to shed light on the labour market’s strength and influence the Federal Reserve’s next policy steps.
Also looming is the White House’s deadline for the imposition of sweeping new tariffs. President Donald Trump has confirmed that the levies will not be extended, and a 25% tariff on goods from India will begin Friday, with additional duties to come into effect for dozens of countries.
According to ANZ analysts, "The White House has said that Trump will sign executive orders imposing new tariff rates on trading partners by 31 July (U.S. time), effective from 1 August.
Trump announced a 90-day extension for a deal with Mexico. In the interim, the 25% tariffs on cars will continue as will 50% tariffs on steel, aluminium and copper.
"Earlier, he noted 15% tariffs on imports from South Korea, down from the 25% threatened. Autos, a key imports from South Korea, will also face 15% tariffs, similar to the deals with Japan and the European Union.
"In return, South Korea will invest USD350bn across shipbuilding, semiconductor chips and biotechnology and another USD100bn in U.S. energy imports.
Given the deals so far, our calculations suggest the overall effective tariff rate will be in the 16–18% range."
Despite Thursday’s decline, all three major benchmarks ended July in positive territory. The Dow added just under 0.1%, the S&P 500 gained 2.2% and the Nasdaq rose 3.7%.
For the week, the Dow has dropped 1.7%, the S&P 500 is on pace for a 0.8% decline, while the Nasdaq is up less than 0.1%.
