Thursday saw advances for the Nasdaq-100 futures, helped by significant gains made by Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook.
Futures for the Nasdaq 100 rose 1.3%. Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures declined 134 points, or 0.4%.
After reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and announcing a $40 billion stock repurchase, Meta saw a rise of more than 19% in premarket trade. That made it easier for investors to overlook the metaverse business unit’s losses.
The movements come after a successful day for the three major indices. The Nasdaq Composite ended the day up 2% while the S&P 500 increased by 1.05%. The Dow, meanwhile, managed to gain just 0.02% after losing more than 500 points earlier in the day.
The advances on Wednesday followed the Federal Reserve’s announcement of a 0.25 percentage point interest rate hike. That represented a reduction from the 0.5 percentage point rise at the meeting in December, boosting market confidence that inflation is slowing down enough for the central bank to pay attention. However, the central bank made no mention of an impending break in rate increases.
According to Jamie Dutta, market analyst at Vantage, “Traders think the Fed is behind the curve and that the inflation threat is rapidly fading.” If the economy loses momentum, “The Fed is open to revising its mind and may have to.” earnings results from well-known companies including Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Ford Motor, and Starbucks will be closely watched by investors on Thursday. Data on unemployment claims, productivity, labor expenses, and industrial orders will also be sought after.
Source (CNBC)
