Stock futures rise as trade hopes help sentiment
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[January 18, 2019]
By Medha Singh
(Reuters) - U.S. stock futures rose for the
fifth straight day on Friday, building on hopes that a bitter trade war
between the United States and China would be resolved.
Wall Street rallied late on Thursday after a report that U.S. Treasury
Secretary Steven Mnuchin discussed lifting some or all tariffs imposed
on Chinese imports. The Treasury denied Mnuchin had made any such
recommendation.
The benchmark S&P 500 <.SPX>, which closed above its 50-day moving
average for the first time since Dec. 3, is on track for its fourth week
of gains, its longest streak since late July.
The S&P 500 index is now 11.2 percent away from its Sept. 20 record
close after having rallied from a 20-month low on Christmas Eve.
"Although, the Treasury didn't confirm this (the report), the market has
bought it for now and if it turns out to be a junk, the selloff would be
intense," Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets UK Ltd in
London, wrote in a note.
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"To put things in perspective, the S&P 500 broke its 50-day moving
average, a signal that bulls are back in the race."
At 7:08 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis <1YMc1> were up 0.67 percent. S&P 500
e-minis <ESc1> were up 0.47 percent and Nasdaq 100 e-minis <NQc1> were
up 0.46 percent.
Late on Thursday, Netflix Inc <NFLX.O> posted record new subscriber
additions in the fourth quarter but its shares dipped 2.6 percent in
premarket trading on slightly disappointing current-quarter revenue
forecast.
Netflix remains the best performing FAANG stock this year, rising more
than 30 percent. Rest of the FAANG members, which will report their
quarterly results in the coming weeks, rose between 0.2 percent and 0.5
percent.
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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in
New York, U.S., January 10, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
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Schlumberger <SLB.N>, the world's largest oilfield services provider, rose 2
percent after reporting a quarterly profit compared with a year-earlier loss.
Other energy stocks were also higher, boosted by a jump in oil prices.
American Express Co <AXP.N> missed fourth-quarter profit estimates, blaming a
slower rate of customer spending despite a strong U.S. holiday sales season.
Shares of the credit-card company dropped 2.2 percent in light premarket volume.
Shares of Tesla Inc <TSLA.O> slid 6.6 percent in heavy premarket trading. The
company said it would cut 7 percent of its workforce and forecast a smaller
quarterly profit, compared with the preceding quarter.
Analysts have lowered their fourth-quarter earnings forecast for S&P 500
companies to 14.2 percent from 20.1 percent estimated on Oct. 1, according to
IBES data from Refinitiv.
There were some worries that the partial U.S. federal government shutdown, which
entered its 28th day with no end in sight, could delay tax refunds and hit
companies that rely on consumers spending a chunk of that money on their goods
or services.
(Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal;
Editing by Anil D'Silva)
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