After a significant rebound from Wednesday's sell-off, the stocks may see a further increase during the early trading hours of Friday. Current forecasting suggests a promising opening for the markets, with a rise of 0.4% indicated for the S&P 500 futures.
This positive trend is expected in part due to encouraging earnings news from Facebook's parent company, Meta Platforms (META), and the e-commerce titan Amazon (AMZN). After reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter results and announcing its inaugural quarterly dividend and a $50 billion share buyback, Meta's shares are set to soar by about 16.8% in pre-market trading. Amazon too saw a surge of 6.8% in pre-market trading, after outperforming analyst projections on both revenue and profit for the final quarter.
On the contrary, Apple (AAPL) shares have dipped by 3.4% in pre-market trading, despite reporting better-than-expected earnings for the first fiscal quarter. This is likely due to a guidance for the ongoing quarter that suggests potentially weak iPhone sales.
The overall optimistic trend was further boosted by the Labor Department's report of a stronger-than-anticipated job growth in January. Job growth saw an upbeat revision in November and December, adding 126,000 jobs to the already existing numbers. January's job growth significantly benefited from a major rise in employment in the healthcare and social assistance sector, with 100,400 jobs added.
A notable increase was also observed in the professional, business services, and retail sectors, although employment took a hit in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction industry. The unemployment rate for January remained stable at 3.7%, contradicting the economists' prediction of a rise to 3.8%.
However, the positive job data could prompt worries about the future of interest rates, particularly after the Federal Reserve hinted at no rate cuts in March.
Subsequently, the University of Michigan is set to release its revised data on consumer sentiment for January. The Commerce Department will also reveal its report on new orders for manufactured goods for December.
After Wednesday's sell-off, stocks presented a strong comeback during Thursday's trading. The major averages concluded the day near their pinnacle peaks.
In global trading, the Asian Pacific stock markets demonstrated a mixed performance on Friday. Japan's Nikkei and South Korea's Kospi index experienced an uptick, while China's Shanghai Composite Index fell. European markets, on the other hand, all showed positive movement.
As for commodities, crude oil futures are dropping, while gold futures take a dip after a slight increase in the previous session. On the currency exchange, the US dollar trades at a higher value against the yen and the euro compared to the previous day's close.
