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US pre-open: Futures point to modest gains following tech earnings

By Iain Gilbert

Date: Friday 31 Jul 2020

US pre-open: Futures point to modest gains following tech earnings

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were pointing to modest gains ahead of the bell on Friday following strong earnings by some of the technology sector's biggest names overnight.
As of 1245 BST, Dow Jones futures were up 0.32%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.31% and 1.12% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 225.92 points lower on Thursday after an epic plunge in second-quarter gross domestic product and another week's worth of jobless claims figures.

Apple revealed it had a blowout quarter overnight, with overall sales shooting up 11%, while Amazon reported sales growth amid the Covid-19 pandemic and Facebook posted revenue growth of 11% despite multiple boycotts from major advertisers.

Google parent company Alphabet also posted better-than-expected quarterly figures - but Cloud revenues came in slightly weaker than expected.

However, despite the solid tech report cards, expiring emergency unemployment benefits, losses in stocks linked to the reopening of the economy and concerns around a potential sell-the-news-type effect following said earnings, Dow Jones S&P 500 gains were somewhat muted before the opening bell.

Gold prices also shunted higher again as the safe-haven commodity was painfully close to reaching $2,000 per ounce for the first time, while the US dollar hit a three-year low.

CMC Markets' Michael Hewson said: "Rising uncertainty about the US economy, heading into the upcoming November election also appears to be weighing heavily on the US dollar which has continued to fall heavily in Asia trading, falling to a fresh three year low, against the euro as well as a basket of currencies.

"Trump's talk of an election delay probably hasn't gone down too well either, and while the President has no legal power to change the date of the election, only Congress does, the fact he floated the idea, as well as the lack of progress on a new stimulus deal between Democrats and Republicans, suggests that the US dollar could have further to fall, as the political bickering gets more rancorous."

On the macro front, the PCE Price Index and personal income figures for June will be released at 1330 BST, while the Chicago PMI and the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index will follow at 1445 BST and 1500 BST, respectively.

In the corporate space, Caterpillar, MoneyGram and Spectrum Brands will all report earnings on Friday.

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