US stock futures rise; Apple, Amazon earnings, payrolls in spotlight By Investing.com

Investing.com — U.S. stock futures rose Friday, as investors digested results from major tech giants ahead of the release of the widely-watched monthly payrolls report.

By 06:30 ET (10:30 GMT), the contract was up 145 points, or 0.4%, traded 23 points, or 0.4%, higher and climbed 105 points, or 0.5%.

All the major indices closed lower, with the tech-heavy slumping over 500 points, or 2.8%, in the wake of disappointing earnings from the likes of Microsoft (NASDAQ:) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:).

The broad-based also fell 1.9% and the blue chip dropped 0.9%. 

All three major indexes reported a negative October, with the Dow dropping the most, falling 1.3%.

Apple, Amazon in spotlight

Tech giants Apple (NASDAQ:) and Amazon (NASDAQ:) released quarterly results after the close of trading Thursday, and are likely to be the main corporate focus of the final trading day of the week.

IPhone-maker Apple unveiled a current-quarter revenue outlook in the low- to mid-single-digits, missing the top-end of Wall Street estimates, in a possible sign of caution ahead of the key holiday trading period.

Its stock fell over 1% premarket.

Amazon, by contrast, rose over 6% premarket after the e-commerce behemoth posted an 11% jump in overall quarterly revenues versus a year ago, outpacing Wall Street estimates, as it benefited from “once in a lifetime” opportunities from so-called generative AI.

Results are also expected Friday from the oil majors Exxon Mobil (NYSE:) and Chevron (NYSE:). 

Payrolls report due

As far as the economic data slate is concerned, Friday’s highlight is the US report for October.

Economists are estimating that the US economy added 106,000 jobs last month, down from 254,000 in the prior month, while the is tipped to match August’s pace of 4.1%. growth is also seen slowing to 0.3% on a month-on-month basis.

The Federal Reserve meets next week, and is widely expected to cut interest rates by 25 basis points.

Crude ends week on positive note

Oil prices rose Friday, paring some of the week’s losses, on raised geopolitical tensions in the Middle East following reports that Iran was preparing a retaliatory strike on Israel.

By 04:35 ET, the contract climbed 2.1% to $74.31 per barrel, while futures (WTI) traded 2.2% higher at $70.81 per barrel. 

Both contracts are on track to fall around 2% this week, after slumping more than 6% on Monday on the reduced risk of a wider Middle East conflict.

Iran is preparing to attack Israel from Iraqi territory in the coming days, Axios reported on Thursday, citing Israeli intelligence, in response to Israel’s strike against Iran on Oct. 26.

Also impacting sentiment was the release of data in China, which showed manufacturing activity in the top oil importer swung back to growth in October, according to a private-sector survey, echoing an official report published earlier in the week.