Wall Street Likely To See Mixed Open; Earnings In Focus

Futures point to a mixed start for stocks on Wall Street Friday morning. With the economic calendar rather light, investors are likely to focus on earnings.

The Dow futures are down 0.14 percent, while the S&P futures and the Nasdaq futures are up 0.21 percent, and 0.52 percent, respectively.

American Express said that its bottomline came in at $2.507 billion, or $3.49 per share, in the third quarter, compared with $2.451 billion, or $3.30 per share in the corresponding quarter last year. The company has increased its full-year EPS guidance to $13.75-$14.01, up from $13.30-$13.80 previously.

Procter & Gamble reported first-quarter earnings of $3.959 billion, or $1.61 per share, compared with $4.521 billion, or $1.83 per share in the year-ago quarter.

For fiscal 2025, P&G expects earnings per share to grow 10 to 12 percent from the base fiscal 2024 earnings of $6.02 per share, implying earnings in the range of $6.62 to $6.74 per share.

Netflix Inc. (NFLX) announced after trading hours on Thursday that its net income for the third quarter rose to $2.36 billion or $5.40 per share from $1.68 billion or $3.73 per share in the prior year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $5.12 per share for the third quarter.

On the economic front, data on U.S. housing starts and building permits for the month of September are due at 8:30 AM ET.

Stocks closed higher on Wall Street yesterday. The Dow ended the day up 161.35 points or 0.4 percent at 43,239.05, while the Nasdaq crept up 6.53 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 18,373.61 and the S&P 500 edged down 1.00 point or less than a tenth of a percent to 5,841.47.

Strength among semiconductor stocks supported the markets for much of the session before a late-day pullback, although the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index still ended the day up by 1.0 percent.

Largely upbeat U.S. economic data, including a Commerce Department report showing retail sales increased by slightly more than expected in the month of September, aided sentiment.

In overseas trading, Asian stocks turned in a mixed performance on Friday as a slew of Chinese data backed calls for more stimulus. Japan’s key inflation gauge slowed in September for the first time in five months, but an index excluding the effect of fuel held steady, keeping the Bank of Japan on track to raise interest rates further.

European stocks are broadly higher with investors continuing to digest the European Central Bank’s interest rate move, and reacting to the latest batch of economic data and earnings updates.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are down $0.25 or 0.35 percent at $70.42 a barrel. Gold futures are gaining $17.90 or 0.68 percent at $2,725.40 an ounce.

In currencies, the dollar index is down 0.19 percent at 103.63. The dollar is trading at $1.0848 against the Euro. Against the Japanese currency, the dollar is down, fetching 150.01 yen a unit, compared with 150.21 yen on Thursday.