Thursday April 28th

U.S. stock index futures rose in early trading Thursday as the market tried to recover some ground lost during this month’s sell-off, and investors reacted positively to earnings from Meta Platforms. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average added about 190 points or 0.6%. S&P 500 futures gained 1.1% and Nasdaq 100 futures jumped 1.5%. A slew of corporate earnings reports drove market sentiment Thursday. “It’s been a pretty good earnings season and that is supportive for the equity market,” Victoria Fernandez, chief market strategist at Crossmark Global Investments, said. Shares of Meta surged more than 13% following a beat on earnings, a sign that investors may see signs of relief in the beaten-up tech sector. Shares were down 48% on the year heading into the results. Meanwhile, shares of Qualcomm gained more than 5% in premarket trading on the back of strong earnings, while PayPal rose roughly 3% despite issuing weak guidance for the second quarter. McDonald’s, Merck, Eli Lilly and Southwest were all higher in early morning trading after better-than-expected quarterly reports. The premarket moves followed a volatile session Wednesday that saw the Nasdaq Composite stoop to its lowest level in 2022, as stocks looked to bounce back from a tech-led April sell-off. Stocks have struggled this month amid concerns about slowing global growth, rising inflation and the Federal Reserve’s monetary tightening. U.S. gross domestic product unexpectedly declined in the first quarter by 1.4% from the year prior, compared with the 1% growth expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones. Stock futures came off their highs slightly after the release Thursday morning. Some investors brushed off the economic contraction, citing the jump in prices and trade deficit as contributing the most to the decline. The S&P 500 was down 7.7% for April — on pace for its biggest monthly decline since March 2020. The Nasdaq Composite has lost more than 12% since the start of April and is headed for its worst one-month performance since October 2008. The Dow has been the relative outperformer, losing about 4% this month. Asia-Pacific stocks were largely higher in Thursday trade, as investors in the region watched for market reaction to the Bank of Japan’s latest monetary policy decision. Mainland Chinese stocks closed mixed, with the Shanghai Composite rising 0.58% to 2,975.48 while the Shenzhen Component dipped 0.225% to 10,628.92. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index jumped about 1.4% higher, as of its final hour of trading. The Nikkei 225 in Japan led gains among the region’s major markets on Thursday, rising 1.75% to close at 26,847.90 while the Topix index climbed 2.09% to 1,899.62. Elsewhere, South Korea’s Kospi advanced 1.08% to finish the trading day at 2,667.49. Oil prices reversed losses on Thursday as investors remained cautious about dwindling fuel demand in China, the world’s biggest oil importer, due to COVID-19 restrictions. Brent crude futures advanced 42 cents to $105.76 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 35 cents at $102.34. Both contracts settled over 30 cents higher in the previous session due to ongoing concerns about tight worldwide supply, and another drawdown in U.S. distillate and gasoline stocks. Gold prices reached a 10-week low on Thursday, as an elevated U.S. dollar hurt demand for greenback-priced bullion, while an impending Federal Reserve interest rate hike also dented the metal’s appeal as an inflation hedge. Spot gold traded as low as $1,877.18 per ounce, lowest since Feb. 16. The metal later rebounded to trade 0.2% higher at $1,889.50. U.S. gold futures eked out a small gain to trade at $1,890.70. Gold has been holding very well above $1,900, but has seen pressure from the dollar, and the underlying factor of the U.S. Federal Reserve being expected to raise interest rates by 50 basis points next week, said Brian Lan, managing director at dealer GoldSilver Central. The dollar index is at five-year highs and a further push above 103.82 would send it to levels not visited since late-2002.