Futures slip after Apple, Amazon results reignite
supply, labor woes
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[October 29, 2021] By
Devik Jain
(Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq
indexes looked set to drop from record highs on Friday, as results from
mega-cap firms Apple and Amazon.com reignited concerns of labor and
supply shortages that have been at the forefront of this quarterly
earnings season.
Market participants have been closely watching how corporate America
navigates through these challenges along with concerns about rising
inflation, after largely upbeat earnings reports so far helped investors
look past a mixed batch of macro-economic data.
Apple slipped 3.5% in premarket trading after the iPhone maker warned
the impact of supply chain disruptions will be even worse during the
current holiday sales quarter, after supply woes cost $6 billion in
sales in the last quarter.
Amazon.com Inc dropped 4.8% after the world's largest online retailer
forecast downbeat holiday-quarter sales, as higher pay to attract
workers and other operational disruptions diminish the company's
windfall from online shopping.
Starbucks Corp fell 4.7% after the coffee chain expects fiscal 2022
operating margin to be ~17%, below its long-term target, due to
inflation and investments.

Focus is now on readings on U.S. consumer spending and the Federal
Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, the core PCE price index, due at
8:30 a.m. ET, for clues on the health of the economy ahead of the
central bank's policy meeting next week.
"(The data) will carry rather more weight with markets. High prints may
see the Fed taper trade priced into the end of the week, with stocks
lower, especially above the one-two punch from Apple and Amazon," said
Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst, Asia Pacific, OANDA.
"Some actual concrete progress on the U.S. spending bills instead of
empty rhetoric could give a pleasant boost to markets in the end of the
week as well."
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People are seen on Wall
Street outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City,
U.S., March 19, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

U.S. President Joe Biden was dealt a setback on Thursday as the House of
Representatives abandoned plans for a vote on an infrastructure bill with
progressives seeking more time to consider his call for a separate $1.75
trillion plan for social initiatives.
At 6:44 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 51 points, or 0.14%, S&P 500 e-minis were
down 23 points, or 0.5%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 144.25 points, or
0.92%.
For the week, S&P 500 has gained nearly 1.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq has
risen 2.4%.
Analysts expects profits for S&P 500 companies to grow 38.6% year-on-year in the
third quarter, up from an expected 29.4% rise at the start of the earnings
season, according to data from Refinitiv.
Chevron Corp rose 1.9% after the oil major posted its highest quarterly profit
in eight years.
Its peer Exxon Mobil also edged higher ahead of its earnings report before the
opening bell.
Western Digital Corp tumbled 11.1% after the storage hardware maker forecast
downbeat second-quarter profit and revenue.
(Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
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