US pre-open: Futures turn north as Wall Street looks to extend gains

US stock futures pointed to a positive open on Friday, boosted by upbeat earnings reports from major technology companies.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is expected to open up approximately 76 points, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are set to begin the final session of the week eight and 35 points higher respectively.

Tech stocks surge

Amazon rallied 9.59% in pre-market trading after soaring 11% late on Thursday, after the e-commerce giant posted an unexpected profit for the third quarter and offered an upbeat outlook for the holiday period.

Alphabet, Google’s holding company, surged 9.43% after announcing its first ever stock buyback plan, revealing it will invest more than $5bn in the programme.

“Profits are up almost 50% in the third quarter over the previous year, and this is whilst Google’s earnings are still wrapped up with costly side projects like self-driving cars, which won’t be the case in January under the new corporate structure,” said CMC Markets’ analyst Jasper Lawler.

Microsoft jumped 7.97% after posting better-than-expected revenue and profit late on Thursday, while Twitter gained 1.34% after its chief executive pledged to give $200m of his own shares to the employee stock pool.

The earnings season continues with American Airlines Group and Procter & Gamble set to report on Friday.

Elsewhere, Asian and European stocks rallied as both were boosted by the prospect of more stimulus from the European Central Bank.

At the press conference following the rate announcement on Thursday, ECB President Mario Draghi said the governing council had discussed expanding its bond-buying programme and cutting the rate on reserves held at the central bank.

“Although there might well be some debate as to the direct benefits of a change to already record-low interest rates, this once again proves that under Mario Draghi the ECB is acting rather than just venting rhetoric,” said Alastair McCaig, senior market analyst at IG.

The dollar was broadly flat against the euro and the pound but declined 0.34% against the yen, while gold futures climbed 0.42% to $1,170.94.

Oil prices were mixed, with West Texas Intermediate losing 0.02% to $45.37 a barrel, while Brent climbed 0.37% to $48.26 a barrel.

The economic calendar is relatively quiet on Friday, with the Markit manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index report for October, out at 1445 BST, the only release of note.