US pre-open: Futures lower as Meta guidance disappoints

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were in the red ahead of the bell on Thursday as investors digested disappointing earnings from some of the tech industry's biggest names. As of 1245 BST, Dow Jones futures were down 0.52%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.65% and 0.99% weaker, respectively.

The Dow closed 42.77 points lower on Wednesday as indices swung about the place throughout the session.

On Thursday, Facebook parent company Meta Platforms traded lower in the pre-market after the social media giant offered up disappointing Q2 revenue guidance, while IBM fell short of consensus estimates with its first-quarter revenue performance. Honeywell, Chipotle and Merck shares were all in the green on the back of quarterly earnings that beat expectations on the Street.

Microsoft and Alphabet will deliver earnings after the close.

On the macro front, weekly jobless claims numbers from the Labor Department will be out at 1330 BST, as will preliminary readings of March's personal consumption expenditures index, wholesale inventories, goods trade balance and gross domestic product figures, while last month's pending home sales numbers will follow at 1500 BST.

Scope Markets' Joshua Mahony said: "Markets will be hotly anticipating the US open given the predicted 12% decline for tech giant Meta. This highlights how pre-release performance and the company's outlook are often more important than the numbers themselves, with the Meta share price slumping despite beating on both top and bottom line. All eyes turn towards Microsoft and Alphabet whose numbers are released after the close today.

"On the economic front, we are waiting patiently for today's US GDP release, with the GDPNow estimate of 2.7% highlighting the potential for an upwards surprise given the 2.5% expected by the markets. With that in mind, traders should be well aware of the risks associated with higher-than-expected GDP and core PCE figures, which could provide a fresh bout of selling pressure for US markets."







Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com