NASDAQ Futures Perk on Earnings



NASDAQ futures advanced Thursday night as traders analyzed major earnings reports in the runup to the all-important jobs report.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gained 139 points, or 0.3%, to 42,087.

Futures for the S&P 500 moved forward 21.75 points, or 0.4%, to 5,760.25.

Futures for the NASDAQ Composite Index captured 89.75 points, or 0.4%, to 20,111.50.

Amazon rallied more than 5% as strength in the cloud and advertising businesses propelled the ecommerce giant above Wall Street’s earnings expectations. Intel soared more than 5% after exceeding analysts’ forecasts for revenue and offering strong guidance.

Those moves come after a downbeat session on Thursday, which saw the S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite dragged down by post-earnings slumps in Microsoft and Meta Platforms. Both the indexes notched their worst sessions since early September.

Thursday also marked the end of a losing trading month, a negative mark amid a strong year. The Dow led the major indexes down with a slide of 1.3%, while the S&P 500 ducked 1% and NASDAQ shed 0.5%.

Investors are watching Friday for the closely followed employment data due in the morning. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect nonfarm payrolls to by 100,000 jobs in October, which would mark the smallest increase in nearly four years. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is slated to hold steady at 4.1%.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 cratered 2.6% Friday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng gained 0.9%.

Oil prices surged $1.38 to $70.64 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices shone brighter $10.60 to $2,759.90.