Stock futures rose in overnight trading Thursday as Big Tech names Alphabet and Microsoft saw shares rally on strong earnings.The strength in these megacap stocks could give the major averages a boost after a losing day on Wall Street. The blue-chip Dow slid 375 points Thursday, while the
Thursday's sell-off was triggered by new U.S. economic data that showed a sharp slowdown in growth and pointed to persistent inflation. Gross domestic productin the first quarter, compared to a Dow Jones forecast of 2.4%. Meanwhile, the personal consumption expenditures price index for the period rose at a 3.4% pace, well above the previous quarter's 1.8% increase.
"The Fed will be more concerned by inflation running above their target in the first quarter than slower growth," said Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank."The Fed is likely to slow the pace of their balance sheet runoffs at one of the next few meetings, but wait until September to start reducing interest rates."Still, major averages are on track for a winning week. The S&P 500 is up 1.6% week to date, on pace to break a three-week losing streak.
So far, about 38% of the S&P 500 companies have reported quarterly results, and nearly 80% of those beat earnings expectations.Dexcom – The manufacturer of glucose monitoring systems fell 8%, even as the company posted beats on the top and bottom lines. Gilead Sciences – The biotech stock jumped almost 3% after a better-than-feared quarterly report. Gilead posted a loss of $1.32 per share, narrower than a loss of $1.49 per share expected by analysts polled by LSEG.