US pre-open: Futures point to early gains amid earnings onslaught, advance GDP reading in focus

Wall Street futures were firmly in the green ahead of the bell on Thursday as corporate earnings continued to stream in and investors awaited an advance reading of first-quarter gross domestic product figures.

As of 1220 BST, Dow Jones futures were up 0.70%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 1.33% and 1.91% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 61.75 points higher on Wednesday, clawing back some of the losses it recorded in the prior session's heavy sell-off.

In the corporate space, shares in Facebook parent company Meta Platforms rallied in pre-market trading after the social media giant reported better than expected quarterly earnings overnight despite posting some disappointing earnings, while Qualcomm traded higher on the back of some strong quarterly earnings and PayPal stock advanced despite issuing weak second-quarter guidance.

As far as Thursday's earnings were concerned, Eli Lilly reported a quarterly earnings beat after Covid-19 antibodies revenue surged 81%, while Merck announced Q1 worldwide sales of $15.9bn, an increase of 50% year-on-year.

Elsewhere, Stanley Black & Decker cut full-year earnings guidance to $9.50 per share despite posting a 20% jump in Q1 revenues, while Caterpillar was in the green after earnings topped estimates, and fast-food giant McDonald's beat Wall Street expectations with Q1 revenues of $5.67bn and adjusted earnings per share of $2.28 each.

Comcast and Mastercard will also report earnings before the start of trading, while Amazon, Apple, Intel, Twitter, and Western Digital will all update the market on their most recent quarterly performance after the close.

On the macro front, an advance reading of first-quarter GDP figures will be published at 1330 BST, as will an advance reading of Q1 personal consumption expenditure and this week's jobless claims data from the Labor Department.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was slightly lower at 2.820% ahead of the GDP reading.