US pre-open: Futures mixed as Meta weighs on Nasdaq

Wall Street futures were mixed ahead of the bell as market participants braced for quarterly numbers from more of the nation's biggest names in technology.

As of 1200 BST, Dow Jones and S&P 500 futures were up 0.49% and 0.01%, respectively, while Nasdaq-100 futures had the index opening 0.59% lower.

The Dow closed just 2.37 points higher on Wednesday as investors thumbed through data and earnings from some of America's biggest tech firms.

Disappointing results from Meta Platforms were in focus prior to the open, with shares in the Facebook parent company falling as much as 20% in the pre-market on the back of weak fourth-quarter guidance and weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings. Meta also cautioned that it will now lose even more money in 2023 due to its efforts to further develop its ambitious metaverse, a revelation that has led multiple analysts to downgrade the stock.

Big-name tech earnings will continue to be drawing an amount of investor attention on Thursday, with results from Amazon and Apple on deck after the close.

AvaTrade's Naeem Aslam said: "Traders are questioning the message which is coming out from mega-tech. Meta was disappointed in its earnings last night, and the stock tumbled last night, and the game is still not over yet, as Amazon and Apple will still have to report their numbers this week."

Intel, McDonald's, Merck, and Caterpillar will also report throughout the course of the day.

On the macro front, an advance reading of America's third-quarter GDP growth rate will be published at 1330 BST, as will September durable goods orders and weekly jobless claims data from the Labor Department.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com