Futures rise as better earnings ease nerves

[October 24, 2019]  By Shreyashi Sanyal

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Thursday, as solid results from Microsoft, Lam Research and Tesla lifted sentiment following lackluster reports from big bellwether companies in the previous session.

Third-quarter earnings reports are center stage with investors trying to gauge the fallout from a prolonged U.S.-China trade war, which has already shown up in the domestic economy.

But the narrative so far has been fairly upbeat, with only a small crop of companies including industrial giant Caterpillar, toy-maker Hasbro Inc, and chipmaker Texas Instruments <TXN.O> blaming the tariff moves for denting results.

Tech giant Microsoft Corp <MSFT.O> gained 1% premarket as its forecast for cloud computing services surpassed analysts' expectations. Tesla Inc <TSLA.O> surged 18.2% after a surprise quarterly profit.

Lam Research Corp <LRCX.O> jumped 7% after the chip gear maker forecast strong results for the December quarter.

Chip-related stocks including Microchip Technology <MCHP.O>, Micron <MU.O> and Nvidia <NVDA.O> also looked set to recover from a selloff in the previous session, sparked by a revenue warning from industry proxy Texas Instruments.

Of the 124 S&P 500 companies that reported results up to Wednesday, more than 82% topped earnings estimates, according to Refinitiv data. But analysts are still forecasting the first earnings contraction since 2016.

Comcast Corp <CMCSA.O> added 3.4%, while Dow Inc <DOW.N> gained 3% after both companies exceeded profit estimates.

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., October 22, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Among the few weak results for the day, Post-it notes maker 3M Co <MMM.N> fell 2.7% after cutting its full-year profit forecast and missing third-quarter revenue estimates.

Twitter Inc <TWTR.N> slid nearly 20% after the social media platform posted worse-than-expected third quarter results.

At 7:27 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis <1YMcv1> were up 31 points, or 0.12%. S&P 500 e-minis <EScv1> rose 5.25 points, or 0.17% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis <NQcv1> were up 43.5 points, or 0.55%.

In a relatively quiet week regarding new twists in the U.S.-China trade rhetoric, focus has shifted to fresh domestic economic data.

PMI surveys for the manufacturing and services sectors, due 9:45 a.m. ET, will offer further clarity on the health of the U.S. economy after a mixed bag of business sentiment indicators from major economies including Japan and the euro zone.

(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Arjun Panchadar in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr)

[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.