Futures Soar as Meta, Microsoft Post Earnings Beats

Stock futures rose Thursday following solid earnings reports from tech giants Microsoft and Meta Platforms. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials leaped 107 points, or 0.2%, to 44,740. Futures for the S&P 500 took on 58.25 points to 6,454.50. Futures for the NASDAQ popped 308.5 points, or 1.3%, to 23,789. “Magnificent Seven” titans Microsoft progressed about 8% and Meta rose about 11% in premarket trading on the back of better-than-expected quarterly earnings. Software giant Microsoft said that annual revenue from its cloud computing service Azure exceeded $75 billion. Meta issued an upbeat third-quarter sales outlook, surpassing the Street’s estimates. Fellow Mag-7 names Apple and Amazon are slated to report earnings after the bell Thursday. Traders on Thursday will watch out for June’s personal consumption expenditures price index reading, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge. Economists polled by Dow Jones see headline PCE rising 2.5% on a 12-month basis and 0.3% from the prior month. Weekly jobless claims are also due. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index jumped 1% Thursday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng shrank 1.6% Oil prices fell 51 cents to $69.49 U.S. a barrel. Gold prices grabbed seven dollars at $3,359.80 U.S. per ounce.