Futures get boost from Amazon results; jobs data in focus

By Shubham Batra and Bansari Mayur Kamdar

(Reuters) -U.S. stock index futures rose on Friday as Amazon’s better-than-expected earnings countered Apple (NASDAQ:)’s tepid sales forecast, while investors awaited the July jobs report to firm up the likelihood of a “soft landing” for the economy.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:) shares surged 8.6% in premarket trading after the company issued an upbeat outlook for the third quarter, while Apple’s shares shed 1.9% as the iPhone maker forecast a continued slide in sales.

Shares of peers Microsoft (NASDAQ:), Alphabet (NASDAQ:) and Snowflake rose between 0.5% and 5.9% after Amazon’s cloud business segment beat sales estimates.

All eyes will be squarely on the July U.S. nonfarm payrolls report, due at 8:30 a.m. ET, with a Reuters poll of economists estimating payrolls increased by 200,000 jobs last month, after having risen 209,000 in June, showing labor market conditions remain tight.

“Today’s NFP data would be important for setting the market tone for the coming weeks,” Jefferies strategist Mohit Kumar said.

“Seasonal factors imply that we could still get a strong print this month, but our view remains that the labor market should start to crack in Q3, which suggests that the employment report this month could mark the high point in employment prints.”

A Labor Department report on Thursday showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits increased slightly last week, while layoffs dropped to an 11-month low in July.

The yield on the 10-year benchmark note was steady near the nine-month high it hit, partly due to Fitch downgrading the United States from a AAA rating to AA+ earlier this week.

Stocks closed marginally lower on Thursday weighed down by the latest batch of economic data and disappointing earnings.

At 07:00 a.m. ET, were up 10 points, or 0.03%, were up 8.5 points, or 0.19%, and were up 44.25 points, or 0.29%.

Of the 392 companies in the that have reported quarterly earnings as of Thursday, 79.3% have beat analysts’ estimates, according to Refinitiv data.

Shares of Tupperware (NYSE:), known for its plastic airtight storage containers and bowls, rallied 63.4% in trading before the bell after it finalized an agreement with its lenders to restructure its debt obligations in an effort to turn around its business.

Amgen (NASDAQ:) gained 1.4%, although in low volumes after it reported a higher quarterly profit on strong sales of its cholesterol, osteoporosis and other drugs. Its planned acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics (NASDAQ:) is delayed due to regulatory scrutiny.

Sports-betting firm DraftKings (NASDAQ:)’ shares surged 13.1% after it raised its fiscal year 2023 revenue outlook.