Dow futures tick higher as tech titans report; nonfarm payrolls loom

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By 6:25 pm ET (11:25 pm GMT) Dow Jones Futures ticked 0.1% higher S&P 500 Futures and Nasdaq 100 Futures added 0.5% and 0.9% apiece.

In after-hours trading, shares of Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META), the parent company of Facebook, surged 14.2% after the social media behemoth exceeded analysts’ expectations, reporting EPS of $5.33 versus $4.96 expected, on revenues of $40.11 billion versus $39.02 billion expected. The company also announced its first-ever quarterly dividend and authorized a $50 billion share buyback program.

Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) shares jumped 7.2% following a strong fourth-quarter performance, reporting EPS of $1 versus $0.8 expected on revenues of $170 billion versus $165.95 billion expected.

However, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares fell 3.3% after a decline in sales in China during the fiscal first quarter. EPS was reported at $2.18 versus $2.1 expected, while revenues came in at $119.58 billion versus $118.06 billion expected.

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During Thursday’s regular trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed by 0.1%, while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite rose by 1.3% each. This bounce-back follows a sell-off on Wednesday that was triggered by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell hinting at the unlikelihood of a rate cut in the March meeting.

On Friday, investors and the Fed will be examining the release of January’s nonfarm payrolls report. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect payrolls to have increased by 185,000 positions, with the unemployment rate expected to rise slightly to 3.8%. This is in comparison to December’s remarkable addition of 216,000 positions and an unemployment rate of 3.7%.

Several companies, including Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX), Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM), Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY), Cigna Corp (NYSE:CI), and AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV), are all set to report earnings before the trading bell on Friday.

On the bond markets, United States 10-Year rates were at 3.884%.