Stock futures were slightly higher Wednesday evening as market participants continued to digest the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy statement, which was largely viewed as dovish. Investors looked ahead to the first report on US second-quarter GDP Thursday morning, along with more data on weekly jobless claims and a slew of Big Tech earnings.
Market participants are bracing for what is likely to be by far the worst quarterly GDP print on record, with second-quarter GDP expected to have contracted by 34.5% on a quarter over quarter, annualized basis. The second-quarter report, set for release at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, will cover the months from April to June, with the beginning of this period marking the time when forced business closures and social distancing blanketed the US due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Thursday morning will also see the release of the Labor Department’s weekly print on new unemployment insurance claims. The report is expected to show a second straight increase in new jobless claims to 1.445 million, highlighting the US economy’s backslide as some states dealt with a resurgence in coronavirus cases and re-closed businesses in recent weeks.
Big tech stocks Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Google-parent Alphabet were flat to slightly higher in late trading, after each of these stocks closed Wednesday’s session more than 1% higher. The moves came after CEOs of each of these companies testified on Wednesday in an hours-long hearing before the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust. The hearing covered a range of concerns on the powers these companies have wielded and allegedly used to take out competition.
The hearing touched on thornier and more specific issues than in tech hearings past, and also marked Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ first appearance before Congress. However, many watching the event unfold pointed to a lack of cohesion between Democratic and Republican lawmakers’ lines of questioning, and took this as sign the hearing was more political grandstanding than a tangible step forward in enacting heightened regulation on these firms.
“Yet again Congress is showing they don’t understand tech. They are not aligned on their beef: Democrats are worried about consumer choice, Republicans are worried about censorship of conservative messaging,” Todd Jablonski, Chief Investment Officer of Principal Global Asset Allocation, said in an email Wednesday evening. “By lumping all these companies together – it’s great theater, but it tells me they don’t want to be serious about any individual company. I have a hard time imagining a single action that will solve antitrust issues across the board.”
Each of Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Alphabet are set to report quarterly earnings results after market close on Thursday.
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Stock futures kicked off the overnight session slightly higher, adding to gains during the regular session. Here were the main moves in equity markets, as of 6:02 p.m. ET:
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S&P 500 futures (ES=F): 3,255.00, up 2.5 points or 0.08%
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Dow futures (YM=F): 26,457.00, up 17 points, or 0.06%
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Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): 10,694.5, up 20.25 points, or 0.19%
A trader makes a phone call outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on July 20, 2020 at Wall Street in New York City. – Wall Street stocks were 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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