Stock futures were slightly higher on Wednesday night as market participants continued to assimilate the latest Federal Reserve monetary policy statement, which was largely considered moderate. Investors anticipated the first US second-quarter GDP report on Thursday morning, along with more data on weekly jobless claims and a slew of Big Tech earnings.
Market participants are preparing for what is likely to be by far the worst quarterly print of GDP on record, and second-quarter GDP is expected to have contracted 34.5% quarterly. The second quarter report, to be released at 8:30 am on Thursday, will cover the months of April through June, and the beginning of this period will mark the time when forced business closings and social distancing covered the States. United due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Thursday morning will also publish the weekly print from the Department of Labor on new unemployment insurance claims. The report is expected to show a second consecutive rise in new jobless claims to $ 1.45 billion, highlighting the pullback in the U.S. economy, as some states grappled with a resurgence in coronavirus cases and closed businesses in the last weeks.
Big tech stocks Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and Google’s parent Alphabet held flat or slightly higher in recent trades, after each of these stocks closed Wednesday’s session more than 1% higher. The measures came after CEOs of each of these companies testified Wednesday in a one-hour hearing before the House of Representatives judiciary’s antitrust subcommittee. The audience covered a variety of concerns about the powers these companies have wielded and allegedly used to compete.
The audience touched on more thorny and more specific topics than in past tech hearings, and also marked the first appearance of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos before Congress. However, many of those who watched the event unfold pointed to a lack of cohesion between the lines of questions from Democratic and Republican lawmakers, and took this as a sign that the audience was more of a grandiose political move than a tangible step forward. in enacting more regulation on these firms.
“Once again, Congress is showing that they don’t understand technology. They are not aligned in their flesh: Democrats are concerned about consumer choice, Republicans are concerned about censorship of conservative messages, “Todd Jablonski, chief investment officer at Principal Asset Global Asset, said in an email Wednesday by night. “Bringing all these companies together is a great theater, but it tells me they don’t want to take any individual company seriously. I find it hard to imagine a single action that solves antitrust issues across the board.”
Each of Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Alphabet will report quarterly earnings results after the market closes on Thursday.
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6:02 pm ET Tuesday: Stock futures open higher, extending gains
Stock futures started the session slightly higher overnight, adding to gains during the regular session. These were the main movements in the stock markets, as of 6:02 pm ET:
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S&P 500 futures (ES = F): 3,255.00, up to 2.5 points or 0.08%
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Dow futures (YM = F): 26,457.00, up to 17 points, or 0.06%
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Nasdaq futures (NQ = F): 10,694.5, up to 20.25 points, or 0.19%
A trader makes a phone call outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on July 20, 2020 on Wall Street in New York City. – Wall Street stocks mixed early July 20, 2020 as markets awaited congressional debate on another round of stimulus spending and major earnings releases later in the week. (Photo by Johannes EISELE / AFP) (Photo by JOHANNES EISELE / AFP via Getty Images)
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