Dow, S&P futures hit record highs after Disney's strong earnings

[August 13, 2021]   (Reuters) - The Dow and the S&P 500 futures inched to record highs on Friday after Walt Disney's forecast-beating results, while signs of cooling inflation and a strong recovery in corporate earnings kept the indexes on track for a second straight week of gains.

A trader works on the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., August 5, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

Disney jumped 5.4% in premarket trading after it topped Wall Street expectations for quarterly earnings as its streaming services picked up more customers than expected and pandemic-hit U.S. theme parks returned to profitability.

Airbnb Inc slipped 3.3% after it flagged a hit to its current-quarter bookings by the Delta variant of the coronavirus and a slowing pace of U.S. vaccination.

A stellar earnings season, improving economic data and the Senate's passage of a large infrastructure bill have all reinforced investors' belief in the economic recovery, pushing U.S. stocks to all-time highs in the past few sessions.

Concerns over higher inflation and a sooner-than-anticipated policy tapering by the Federal Reserve also ebbed after data earlier this week showed the pace of increase in U.S. consumer prices slowed in July even as producer prices posted their biggest annual increase in more than a decade.

Investors now await the minutes of the Fed's latest policy meeting, due next week, and the annual meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, later in August for policy cues.

At 6:53 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 48 points, or 0.14%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 2.5 points, or 0.06%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 2 points, or 0.01%.

So far this week, the Dow and the S&P 500 have gained 0.8% and 0.5% respectively, boosted by a ~1.1% gain in economy-linked value stocks.

DoorDash Inc slid 4.8% after the food-delivery firm's loss widened more than expected in the second quarter as it spent heavily to expand internationally and into a crowded market for grocery during the pandemic.

Activision Blizzard Inc rose 0.8% after Citigroup upgrade the video game publisher's stock to "buy" from "neutral".

(Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

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