Stocks set to open higher
U.S. stock futures edged up Friday morning as traders shrugged off inflation fears and digested several upbeat corporate earnings reports.
By 3:35 a.m. ET, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average indicated a gain of 51 points or 0.14% to 35,453.
S&P 500 futures rose 3.5 points, or 0.08% to 4,458 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures added 3.5 points, or 0.02% to 15,082.
On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration amended the emergency use authorizations (EUAs) for both the Moderna (MRNA) and Pfizer(PFE)/BioNTech (BNTX) Covid-19 vaccines to allow for the use of an additional shot in people with compromised immune systems.
Disney smashes earnings estimates thanks to theme park reopenings
Meanwhile, Disney (NYSE: DIS) late Thursday reported third-quarter earnings that topped estimates, helped revenues from its theme parks segment which recovered as the global economy reopened.
The entertainment titan posted third-quarter adjusted earnings of 80 cents per share, compared with 8 cents per share in the same period last year. Revenue grew 45% year-over-year to $17.02 billion.
Analysts expected the company to report earnings of 56 cents per share on revenue of $16.80 billion.
The company’s Parks, Experiences and Products business brought in revenue of $4.34 billion, an increase of more than 100% from the prior-year quarter.
Disney+ subscribers jumped to 116 million from 57.5 million on a year-over-year basis, and up from the 103.6 million it had in the second quarter.
As of writing, Disney stock was marked $8.99, or 5.01% to $188.28 per share in the premarket trading session.
Airbnb shares tumble after warning of Covid delta variant
Airbnb (NASDAQ: ABNB) stock was under pressure Friday morning despite the company posting better-than-expected second-quarter financial results.
The home-sharing giant said on Thursday afternoon that its losses dropped during the quarter to $68 million, or 11 cents a share, from $576 million, or $2.18 a share, in the same period last year.
Revenue for the April-June quarter jumped to $1.3 billion, compared with $335 million in the same period last year.
Analysts had called for a loss of $264 million, or 36 cents per share on revenue of $1.26 billion.
However, Airbnb warned that in the near term new coronavirus variants will make bookings difficult to predict.
“We anticipate that the impact of Covid-19 and the introduction and spread of new variants of the virus, including the delta variant, will continue to affect overall travel behavior, including how often and when guests book and cancel,” the company told shareholders.
Airbnb shares fell $5.15, or 3.41% to $146 each in the premarket trading session.
