U.S. stock futures rose strongly Thursday as robust post-market earnings from Microsoft and Meta Platforms boosted sentiment at the start of a new month.
At 05:15 ET (09:15 GMT), Dow Jones Futures gained 278 points, or 0.7%, S&P 500 Futures rose 60 points, or 1.1%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures jumped 320 points, or 1.6%.
The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher Wednesday, rebounding from earlier losses after data showed U.S. gross domestic product fell at an annualized pace of 0.3% - the first quarter of negative growth since the first quarter of 2022.
Wednesday marked the final trading day in April, a volatile month driven by President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements. This resulted in the S&P 500 and the DJIA recording a losing month, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite advanced in the period.
Microsoft, Meta surge after strong Q1 results Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) shares jumped strongly premarket after quarterly results and guidance topped consensus.
The parent company of Facebook and Instagram anticipated full-year 2025 capital expenditures in the range of $64-72 billion, increased from their prior guidance of $60-65 billion. It raised its planned capex as it accelerates the construction of AI-supporting data centers.
Meanwhile, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares surged 7% premarket after publishing strong quarterly results.
The company’s first-quarter revenue increased 13%. It also forecast cloud-computing revenue growth of 34% to 35% for the fiscal fourth quarter.
There are more corporate earnings to digest Thursday, including from CVS Health (NYSE:CVS), Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) and McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) before the open, followed by iPhone-maker Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and e-commerce titan Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) in the afternoon.
This busy earnings week sees around one-third of S&P 500-listed firms slated to post results.
Labor data in focus The economic data slate Thursday includes the release of the weekly jobless claims data, which will be studied carefully ahead of Friday’s key nonfarm payrolls report.
Data released on Wednesday indicated that the U.S. economy unexpectedly contracted in the first quarter, as U.S. gross domestic product fell by 0.3% on an annualized basis.
In the fourth quarter, it had grown by 2.4%. Economists had predicted a slight expansion of 0.2%.
The economy was hurt by a 41.3% surge in imports during the period, the most in five years, as consumers and businesses pulled forward buying ahead of Trump’s planned tariffs.
Crude continues to drop Oil prices fell further Thursday, after the week’s selloff on concerns of weakening demand following the contraction of the U.S. economy as well as the potential for increased supply.
At 05:15 ET, Brent futures dropped 1.6% to $60.06 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures slipped 1.9% to $57.10 a barrel.
Trading volumes were muted on account of Labor Day holidays across the globe, but both benchmarks are trading around 7% lower this week.
Sentiment has been hit hard by data showing the U.S. economy, the largest in the world and the biggest consumer of energy, contracted in the first quarter, largely linked to uncertainty over Trump’s trade and economic agenda,
On the supply side, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, is set to meet early next week to decide a June output plan.
Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of the group, is unwilling to prop up the oil market with supply cuts, suggesting that the cartel will accelerate output hikes in June for a second consecutive month.
