Stock futures rise as investors shrug off big Netflix disappointment, Dow futures gain 120 points
U.S. stock index futures rose on Wednesday as investors digested disappointing Netflix earnings along with a host of other corporate reports. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 126 points, or 0.3%. S&P 500 futures rose 0.4%, and Nasdaq 100 futures jumped 0.5%. The moves came despite Netflix posting a 26% loss in its share price in premarket trading, after reporting a loss of 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter. The news led shares of streaming companies Disney, Roku, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount to fall, as investors and could further worry investors about buying technology stocks ahead of earnings. A slew of analysts also slashed their ratings on Netflix following its first-quarter results. Meanwhile, Procter & Gamble’s better-than-expected results sent the stock up about 1%. Procter also hiked its full-year revenue guidance. Shares of IBM, another Dow component, rose more than 1% following a beat on earnings and revenue. Tesla and United Airlines are slated to report after the bell. Beyond company earnings, investors were also keeping a close eye on the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield, which retreated Wednesday after touching 2.94%, its highest level since late 2018, on Tuesday. All the major averages saw strong gains on Tuesday, posting their best day since March 16. The Nasdaq Composite bounced back 2.15%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 499.51 points, or 1.45% and the S&P 500 gained 1.61%. Tuesday’s stock market rally was broad-based with 10 out of 11 sectors ending the session in the positive, led by consumer discretionary. Some of the biggest gains came from Microsoft and Alphabet, which rose 1.7% and 1.8%, respectively, while airline stocks jumped after TSA lifted mask mandates on planes in response to a Florida court ruling. Meanwhile, oil prices fell about 5% after the International Monetary Fund cut its economic growth forecasts and warned of risks from higher inflation. “I just think today we’re in a market where different things are shining,” Ally Invest’s Lindsey Bell told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Tuesday. “We’ve got a great earnings season so far and today the market is focusing on that. They’re focusing on the VIX that’s coming down and of course, oil prices — the fall in oil prices helps the inflationary story.” Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed on Wednesday as China defied expectations by keeping its benchmark lending rate unchanged. Mainland Chinese stocks led losses among the region’s major markets. The Shanghai composite closed 1.35% lower at 3,151.05 while the Shenzhen component declined 2.072% to 11,392.23. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed earlier gains and was down 0.44% as of its final hour of trading, adding to its more than 2% Tuesday loss. The Nikkei 225 in Japan climbed 0.86% to close at 27,217.85 while the Topix index advanced 1.03% to 1,915.15. South Korea’s Kospi ended the trading day little changed at 2,718.69. Oil prices rebounded on Wednesday as a drop in U.S. oil inventories and concerns over tighter supplies from Russia and Libya drove a recovery from the previous session’s sharp losses. Brent crude futures rose 66 cents, or 0.6%, to $107.91 a barrel by 5:48 a.m. ET. The front-month WTI crude futures contract, which expires on Wednesday, rose 78 cents, or 0.8%, to $103.34 while the second-month contract gained 69 cents to $102.74. Gold futures fell slightly on Wednesday, as traders weighed expectations of tightening Federal Reserve monetary policy and higher yields. U.S. gold futures traded 0.15% lower at $1,956 per ounce. Spot gold, meanwhile, ticked higher by 0.2%, bouncing off a two-week low.