US pre-open: Stocks seen muted ahead of GDP, earnings

US futures pointed to a muted open on Wall Street a day after the Nasdaq closed at a record high ahead of some key earnings from the technology sector and as investors eyed first-quarter GDP figures.

At 1210 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were flat.

Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said the GDP reading is expected to show 1.3% growth on an annualised basis.

“While this may seem weak and trigger concerns about stalling growth, it is worth considering that first quarter growth has been very low in each of the last three years but has recovered in the following quarters on each occasion. There’s currently no reason to doubt that the same will happen again, should we see another disappointing first quarter reading.

“We’ll also get University of Michigan consumer sentiment, employment cost index and Chicago PMI data, and hear from Fed officials Lael Brainard and Patrick Harker. Earnings season also continues with Exxon Mobil, Chevron and General Motors among those reporting.”

In corporate news, shares in Google parent Alphabet jumped in pre-market trade as its first-quarter results after the close on Thursday beat analysts’ expectations, while Amazon was also in the back as it said profit rose more than 40% in the first quarter to $724m.

On the downside, however, Microsoft and Intel fell as their quarterly revenues missed expectations.

Starbucks was also under the cosh after its quarterly revenues fell short of analysts' forecasts.

US-listed shares of RBS and Barclays were both down in pre-market trading following results, but Go-Pro racked up solid gains after better-than-expected first-quarter numbers late on Thursday.

Aside from corporate news, geopolitical tensions were on investors’ minds after President Donald Trump told Reuters that a “major, major conflict” could be on the cards with North Korea.

Market participants were also faced with a potential government shutdown this weekend. Government funding expires on Saturday, but Congress is widely expected to pass a one-week spending bill to keep the government going for now.

On the data front, investors will eye the release of preliminary first-quarter gross domestic product data at 1330 BST. The Chicago purchasing managers’ index is at 1445 BST, while Michigan consumer sentiment is at 1500 BST.