US pre-open: Stocks seen touch lower ahead of GDP, more earnings
Updated : 11:05
US futures pointed to a flat to marginally weaker open on Wall Street ahead of gross domestic product data and more earnings news.
At 1105 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 futures were 0.1% lower, while Nasdaq futures were flat.
At the same time, oil prices retreated. West Texas Intermediate was down 0.9% at $40.76 a barrel and Brent crude was down 1.4% at $42.10.
“US stocks look set for a mostly lower start as sliding oil prices and limited easing from the Bank of Japan weighs on the overextended rally," said CMC Markets’ Jasper Lawler. “The Nasdaq 100 is bucking the trend after Amazon and Google-parent Alphabet beat quarterly earnings expectations, adding to the run of good form amongst the top US tech companies.”
Investors in the US will get their first chance to react to the Bank of Japan's decision to leave interest rates unchanged at -0.1% on Friday. The BoJ said it would increase its purchases of exchange-traded funds to an annual pace of Y6trn from Y3.3trn and double the size of a lending programme for local companies to $24bn.
Joshua Mahony, market analyst at IG, said: “The fact that the BoJ undershot market expectations should come as no surprise given the lessons learnt from both the BoE and ECB meetings this month. The BoJ has used every weapon bar the helicopter and there is going to come a time when the BoJ takes stock to consider whether their policies are even making a difference.”
In corporate news, Cigna Corp was due to release earnings before the opening bell, along with Merck & Co, Xerox, UPS, Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron.
Amazon was higher in pre-market trade after its second-quarter earnings late on Thursday beat expectations.
Alphabet was also in the black after Google’s earnings late on Thursday surpassed estimates.
On the data front, investors will eye the first release of second-quarter gross domestic product at 1330 BST. Chicago PMI is at 1445 BST, followed by University of Michigan consumer sentiment at 1500 BST.