US pre-open: Stocks to rebound ahead of earnings from Apple, Meta, Amazon

US stock futures were rebounding on Thursday morning following a steep sell-off the previous session on the back of disappointing tech earnings and monetary-policy uncertainty caused by the Federal Reserve.

By 0555 ET in pre-market trading, Dow futures were up 0.1%, the S&P 500 was rising 0.4% and the Nasdaq was gaining 0.6%.

Markets slumped on Wednesday – with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq plunging 1.6% and 2.2%, respectively – after the Fed said that, while economic indicators are moving closer to their targets, interest rates would not be cut imminently as it waited for firmer evidence of a sustained fall in inflation. Monetary policy would likely be loosened this year, chair Jerome Powell suggested, but the timing was yet to be determined.

Microsoft, the world's second-largest company with a $3trn market cap, also disappointed with its guidance for the coming quarter, while Alphabet underwhelmed with weaker-than-expected search revenues. Advanced Micro Devices was also met with a negative reaction to its quarterly results.

Apple, Meta Platforms and Amazon.com are next on the list, with earnings due out after the closing bell on Thursday.

On the macro front, investors will be looking closely at economic data such as the Challenger Job Cuts report for January, jobless claims for last week and last month's ISM manufacturing survey, followed by the all-important non-farm payrolls figure due out on Friday.

"Today sees earnings from Apple, Amazon, and Meta, with traders hoping for a more successful result compared with Tuesday’s sell-off for Microsoft and Alphabet," said analyst Joshua Mahony from Scope Markets.

"Markets are clearly in a somewhat unforgiving mood at the moment, with the lofty valuations attached to tech stocks meaning that we need to see a largely perfect combination of better-than-expected revenues, earnings, and outlook if the stock is to push higher. Nonetheless, the trend is your friend in markets, and any short-term blip will likely be temporary as investors buy the dip ahead of a year that should see monetary easing which typically benefits growth stocks."