Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), July 26, 2023.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Nasdaq-100 futures ticked higher Friday morning as Wall Street parsed the latest earnings from big-name technology companies in the runup to a major employment report due later in the day.
Futures linked to the tech-heavy index rose 0.6%, while S&P 500 futures climbed 0.4%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 68 points, or 0.2%.
A deluge of earnings reports released after the bell Thursday sent individual stocks moving. Amazon jumped 8.6% after trouncing expectations on profit and offering positive guidance, while Apple lost around 1.7% after revenue came in lower than it did in the same quarter a year ago.
Beyond mega-cap tech, Airbnb slid after the company said nights and experiences booked grew at a slower rate than Wall Street anticipated. DraftKings and Dropbox rose around 14% and 4%, respectively, on the back of reports that exceeded analysts’ expectations.
These are among the latest reports this earnings season. Roughly 79% of S&P 500 companies have given results, with about 80% surpassing Wall Street expectations, according to FactSet.
Traders will follow jobs data due Friday morning for further insights into the strength of the labor market and economy. Investors are hoping slowed growth in hourly earnings can signal to the Federal Reserve that previous interest rate hikes have had their intended effects on the economy, according to Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist, wealth management, at U.S. Bank.
“All eyes are on the jobs report,” Haworth said. “We just want to see: Is the Fed getting some help here on the inflation fight?”
Economists polled by Dow Jones expect nonfarm payrolls to grow by 200,000 in July. Meanwhile, the consensus estimate shows the unemployment rate should hold steady at 3.6%. Economists are expecting average hourly wages to rise by 0.3% from June and 4.2% on an annualized basis.
A pop in the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield weighed on stocks in Thursday’s session, with the three major indexes finishing down.
With just Friday’s session left in the trading week, the three major indexes are on pace to end lower. The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 — down about 2.5% and 1.8%, respectively — are poised to post their worst weekly performances since March. The Dow has slid 0.7% on a week-to-date basis.
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