Stock futures under pressure
U.S. stocks look poised to fall at the opening bell on Thursday as corporate earnings and economic data continue to pour in.
Today’s economic calendar includes jobless claims report for the week ended Jan. 29 and monetary policy statements from the European Central Bank and the Bank of England.
Economists expect the ECB to keep policy unchanged and acknowledge that inflation could remain elevated for longer than it had forecast.
On the other hand, the Bank of England is widely expected to hike interest rates again and signal further tapering of its pandemic stimulus measures, including gradually trimming its massive bond-buying program.
As of writing, Dow futures were marked 100 points, or 0.28% lower to 35,392. S&P 500 futures lost 48.5 points, or 1.06% to 4,528.75 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures gave away 318.5 points, or 2.11% to 14,796.
Facebook shares plunge on Q4 earnings miss and weak outlook
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: FB), the parent company of Facebook, released its fourth quarter and full fiscal year financial results late Wednesday.
The social media giant posted earnings of $3.67 per share, falling short of the $3.84 analysts had forecast. Revenue came in at $33.67 billion, up 20% year-over-year and above expectations of $33.38 billion.
Meta said its daily active users (DAUs) dropped to 1.929 billion in holiday quarter, compared to 1.930 billion in the third quarter. This the first time the company has lost daily users in its 18-year history.
The company also warned of slowing revenue growth as it faces competition from TikTok and YouTube and begins transition into the metaverse.
As of writing, Meta stock was indicated $66.36 or 20.54% lower to $256.64 per share in premarket trade.
Amazon, Snap, Ford earnings on tap
After the closing bell today, traders will get an opportunity to review Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)’s fourth-quarter financial results.
Analysts expect the e-commerce giant to post earnings of $3.67 per share on revenue of $137.60 billion.
Automaker Ford (NYSE: F) is expected to have earned 45 cents per share on revenue of $35.52 billion in its latest quarter. Snap (NYSE: SNAP) earnings of 10 cents per share and revenues of $1.2 billion.
Other major earnings to watch today include Honeywell (NASDAQ: HON), Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK), Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL), Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), and Biogen (NASDAQ: BIIB).
