U.S. stock futures climbed on Friday, pointing to a third straight week of gains fueled by strong corporate earnings. Futures were higher for all four major indices.
The dollar index strengthened after Donald Trump announced Thursday that the U.S. will implement a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico, effective Saturday, Feb. 1. He also threatened the BRICS nations to impose 100% tariffs if they issue BRICS reserve currency.
Investors await the Personal Consumption Expenditure data for December, which will be released before the market opens.
The 10-year Treasury yield is currently at 4.53%, and the two-year yield is at 4.21%. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool indicates an 82% probability that the Federal Open Market Committee will maintain current interest rates in March 2025.
| Futures | Change (+/-) |
| Nasdaq 100 | 0.78% |
| S&P 500 | 0.45% |
| Dow Jones | 0.34% |
| Russell 2000 | 0.01% |
In premarket trading on Friday, both the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SPY) and the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ) were higher. SPY was up 0.42% at $607.59, and QQQ gained 0.80% to reach $527.22, based on Benzinga Pro data.
Cues From The Last Session
Stocks rallied Thursday following mixed reactions to a wave of earnings reports and economic data.
This followed Wednesday’s down session after the Fed held rates steady. Investor sentiment fluctuated due to DeepSeek’s low-cost AI model launch and Big Tech earnings, this week.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares fell 0.74% despite beating first-quarter revenue and earnings estimates as iPhone sales slipped in 2024 to $69.14 billion, versus $69.7 billion last year. Revenue reached $124.3 billion as compared to $124.13 billion expected by Benzinga Pro, and adjusted earnings per share was $2.40 as compared to the expectation of $2.36 per share.
IBM Corp. (NYSE:IBM) surged nearly 13% on artificial intelligence growth, Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) gained 1.6% on strong results, while Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) fell 6.2% despite exceeding expectations due to weaker cloud revenue.
On the economic front, Q4 GDP growth and jobless claims were slightly below forecasts, but overall economic indicators remain strong, with the Fed, on Wednesday, citing a robust labor market and “somewhat elevated” inflation.
| Index | Performance (+/-) | Value |
| Nasdaq Composite | 0.25% | 19,681.75 |
| S&P 500 | 0.53% | 6,071.17 |
| Dow Jones | 0.38% | 44,882.13 |
| Russell 2000 | 1.07% | 2,307.45 |
Insights From Analysts
According to the analysts at BlackRock, strong corporate earnings have set the tone for the fourth-quarter season in swing.
“Even with higher-for-longer interest rates, we think U.S. stocks can keep outperforming this year. We stay overweight. Resilient economic growth is helping sectors beyond tech. That's partly driven by artificial intelligence (AI) spurring earnings beyond the initial winners during an economic transformation and policy change, we think. Yet we eye risks to risk appetite changing this year depending on earnings and policy.”
With interest rates in focus Ed Yardeni and Eric Wallerstein of Yradeni Research, said in their QuickTakes note that Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s basic message during his press conference was that the Fed is in no hurry to lower interest rates, but the Fed still intends to lower them over time.
Hence, they described it as a “dovish pause”.
Approaching the week from a technical perspective Jeff Buchbinder, the chief equity strategist at LPL Financial said that the S&P 500 remains near record-high territory amid improving market breadth and momentum. “Technical damage within the heavy-weight tech sector has been minimal as buyers stepped up near support from the mid-January lows.”
Despite Monday's pullback, sector breadth is also holding up relatively well, with the majority of tech stocks trading above their 200-day moving average, Buchbinder added.
“However, technical damage has been more pronounced on a relative basis, as the tech sector vs. S&P 500 ratio chart recently dropped to multi-month lows,” he said.
See Also: How to Trade Futures
Upcoming Economic Data
Here’s what investors will keep an eye on Friday:
Stocks In Focus:
Commodities, Gold And Global Equity Markets:
Crude oil futures were trading lower in the early New York session by 0.08% to hover around $72.67 per barrel.
The gold spot index was down by 0.08% to $2,791.94 per ounce. The Dollar Index was up 0.42% at 108.246 level.
Asian markets were higher on Friday except South Korea's Kospi index. Australia's ASX 200, Japan's Nikkei 225, South Korea's Kospi, Hong Kong's Hang Seng, and India's S&P BSE Sensex rose. European markets were also higher in trade.
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