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Stocks- U.S. Futures Inch Up as Investors Digest Earnings News

Published 18/04/2018, 11:47
Updated 18/04/2018, 11:52
© Reuters.  U.S. futures pointed to a higher opening bell on Wednesday.

© Reuters. U.S. futures pointed to a higher opening bell on Wednesday.

Investing.com – U.S. futures inched up on Wednesday as investors digested earnings results and trade tensions lingered.

The S&P 500 futures was up over six and a half points or 0.25% to 2,713.25 as of 6:44 AM ET (10:44 GMT) while Dow futures increased 53 points or 0.21% to 24,760.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures rose 18 points or 0.27% to 6,847.0.

Investors are looking ahead to a flurry of earnings releases. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT), US Bancorp (NYSE:USB), Textron (NYSE:TXT), and Freds Inc (NASDAQ:FRED) are expected to report before the morning bell. After the closing bell, American Express (NYSE:AXP), Alcoa (NYSE:AA), Steel Dynamics Inc (NASDAQ:STLD), and United Rentals Inc (NYSE:URI) will release their first quarter earnings results.

Meanwhile geopolitical tensions weighed on the back of investor’s minds as U.S. President Donald Trump said late on Tuesday that he wasn’t interested in the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal after flirting with joining the trade agreement again last week.

Trump is hosting a the second day of a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Florida, where the two are expected to talk about trade and stability in the region.

eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) was among the biggest gainers in pre-market trading, rising 4.19% after Morgan Stanley upgraded its price upgrade for the e-commerce firm. General Electric (NYSE:GE) increased 0.65% while Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) inched up 0.46%.

Elsewhere IBM (NYSE:IBM) dipped 4.74% after its profit margins were lower than expected. Micro Focus International (LON:MCRO) PLC ADR (NYSE:MFGP) fell 1.70% while Vodafone Group PLC (LON:VOD) ADR (NASDAQ:VOD) was down 0.47%.

In Europe stocks were mixed. Germany’s DAX fell 14 points or 0.11% while in France the CAC 40 increased 12 points or 0.24% and in London, the FTSE 100 was up 53 points or 0.74%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 gained four points or 0.12% while Spain’s IBEX 35 surged 21 points or 0.22%.

In commodities, gold futures fell 0.02% to $1,349.20 a troy ounce while crude oil futures increased 1.19% to $67.31 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.17% to 89.37.

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