US stock futures rose slightly on Thursday night after a volatile session that snapped a four-day winning streak for one of the leading averages.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 91 points, or 0.3%. S&P 500 futures were also up 0.3% and Nasdaq-100 futures were up 0.6%.
During regular trading, the Dow slid 135 points, or 0.5%, to record its first daily decline in five days. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell 0.3% and 0.7%, respectively. Those losses occurred amid a mixed batch of US economic data.
Weekly initial jobless claims rose 1.3 million in the week ending July 11. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expected a profit of 1.25 million.
Meanwhile, retail sales rose 7.5% last month, beating Dow Jones’ forecast of a 5.2% profit. June’s strong gains come after sales rose to a record 17.7% in May.
Gregory Faranello, head of US rate trading at AmeriVet Securities, said the market took better-than-expected retail sales data with “a grain of salt.”
“We are reaching this period of increased coronavirus cases and have had some closings,” said Faranello. “So there is definitely a feeling of nervousness in the market.”
According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 3.5 million cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the US Some states, including California, Florida, and Texas, have had to reverse reopening measures to stem a recent increase in cases.
Netflix falls after earnings
Netflix reported that second-quarter earnings did not meet analyst expectations, causing shares to drop 10% in post-close trading. The company’s guidance for third-quarter subscriber growth, a key metric for the streaming giant, also contributed to the massive sale of the shares.
Netflix expects to add 2.5 million subscribers in the third quarter. That is well below a FactSet estimate of 5.27 million.
“This is a terrible number,” Tim Seymour, founder of Seymour Asset Management, told CNBC’s “Fast Money”, referring to Netflix’s subscription growth guide. “There is a very competitive environment. When I look at Disney + and how quickly those more than 50 million subs have been built and you look at saturation in the United States, Netflix has to be an international story … International is not going to grow that fast as possible.”
Those results come when Netflix, along with other major tech stocks, have struggled this week. Facebook, Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft are idle to date.
Subscribe to CNBC PRO for exclusive insights and analysis, and live business day scheduling from around the world.
.
