U.S. Stocks May See Early Rally On Upbeat Meta Platforms, Microsoft Earnings

(RTTNews) - After ending yesterday's choppy trading day narrowly mixed, stocks are likely to show a strong move to the upside in early trading on Thursday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a sharply higher open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by 0.9 percent.

Early buying interest is likely to be generated in reaction to upbeat earnings news from tech giants Meta Platforms (META) and Microsoft (MSFT).

Facebook parent Meta Platforms is spiking by 11.3 percent in pre-market trading after the company reported better than expected second quarter results and provided upbeat third quarter revenue guidance.

Shares of Microsoft are also surging by 8.8 percent after the software giant reported fiscal fourth quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.

The futures remained firmly positive after the Commerce Department released a closely watched report showing consumer prices increased in line with economist estimates in the month of June.

The Commerce Department said its personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose by 0.3 percent in June after inching up by an upwardly revised 0.2 percent in May.

Economists had expected the index to climb by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.1 percent uptick originally reported for the previous month.

The annual rate of growth by the PCE price index accelerated to 2.6 percent in June from an upwardly revised 2.4 percent in May.

Economists had expected the annual rate of growth by the index to accelerate to 2.5 percent from the 2.3 percent originally reported for the previous month.

The report said the core PCE price index, which excludes food and energy prices, also rose by 0.3 percent in June after edging up by 0.2 percent in May. The increase matched economist estimates.

The annual rate of growth by the core PCE price index for June came in at 2.8 percent, unchanged from an upwardly revised reading for May.

Economists had expected annual rate of growth by the core PCE price index to come in unchanged compared to the 2.7 percent originally reported for the previous month.

Following the modest pullback seen during Tuesday's session, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Wednesday. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before closing narrowly mixed.

While the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 31.38 points or 0.2 percent to 21,129.67, the S&P 500 edged down 7.96 points or 0.1 percent to 6,362.90 and the Dow fell 171.71 points or 0.4 percent to 44,461.28.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower on Thursday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled by 1.6 percent and China's Shanghai Composite Index slumped by 1.2 percent, although Japan's Nikkei 225 Index bucked the downtrend and jumped by 1.0 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.3 percent, the German DAX Index is down by 0.2 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.4 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are falling $0.32 to $69.68 a barrel after climbing $0.79 to $70 a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, after slumping $28.40 to $3,352.80 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are rising $9.80 to $3,362.60 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 150.23 yen versus the 149.51 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1429 compared to yesterday's $1.1405.