Wall St futures pointing to a solid open as quarterly earnings roll through
U.S. stock futures pointed to a solidly higher open Thursday, as market participants turned their attention to new earnings reports from major American companies.
By 5:40 a.m. ET, Dow Jones futures surged 132.5 points, or 0.39% to 33,756.5. S&P 500 futures jumped 19.62 points, or 0.48% to 4,137.62 while the Nasdaq 100 advanced 83.37 points, or 0.6% to 13,882.12.
Major earnings are set to dominate some discussion on Wall Street, with Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) and Citigroup (NYSE: C) set to publish their latest financial figures before the opening bell.
Other key earnings to watch today include Delta Airlines (NYSE: DAL), UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH), and PepsiCo (NASDAQ: PEP).
JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) reported record quarterly profits on Wednesday, thanks in part to a boom in trading and investment banking.
Coinbase extends gains after market debut
Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) shares were trading higher in the pre-market trading session Thursday after a day after the cryptocurrency platform made its high-profile debut that briefly gave it a valuation of more than $100 billion.
In Wednesday’s debut, the stock opened at $381 per share, well above the reference price of $250 per share set on Tuesday.
Coinbase shunned the normal IPO route, and instead directly listed its shares on the Nasdaq.
At the time of writing, the stock up $34.52, or 10.52% to $362.80 a share in pre-market trade.
Jobless claims & retail sales data on tap
On the economic data front, the U.S. Department of Labor will today release its weekly report on initial unemployment claims at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Expectations are for another 710,000 first-time claims to have been filed during the week ended April 10.
Meanwhile, retail sales data which is also due out at 8:30 a.m. ET is expected to show retail sales increased by 5.9% in March from a drop of 3% in February.
Economists believe a steady pace of coronavirus vaccinations, the roll out of stimulus checks, fewer restrictions on stores across the U.S., and faster hiring will play part in the retail sales data.
Dell jumps on plans to spin off its stake in VMware
Dell (NYSE: DELL) moved up early Thursday after the data center technologies giant announced plans to spin off its stake in VMware (NYSE: VMW) in the fourth quarter of the year.
Dell said the move will “drive additional growth opportunities” for the two firms as standalone entities and result in a special cash dividend for Dell shareholders of up to $12 billion.
The company has owned approximately 81% of VMware shares since its 2015, $67 billion acquisition of EMC, which was the owner of VMware.
At the time of writing, Dell stock was up $6.80, or 7.34% to $99.5 a share in the pre-market trading session. VMware shares added $3.53, or 2.27% to $159.02.
