July 26 (Reuters) - Nasdaq futures crept lower on Wednesday as investors assessed results from Microsoft and Alphabet, with markets also cautious ahead of a Federal Reserve rate hike that could push borrowing costs to their highest since the global financial crisis.
Microsoft eased 3.6% in premarket trading after laying out an aggressive spending plan to meet demand for its new artificial intelligence (AI) services. The Windows-maker still surpassed estimates for quarterly revenue and profit.
On the other hand, Alphabet gained 6.1% after the Google-parent's second-quarter profit exceeded Wall Street expectations on steady demand for its cloud services and a rebound in advertising.
Meta Platforms, which is also highly dependent on ad sales, rose 1.8% ahead of its quarterly report after the bell.
The NYSE FANG+ index, which houses many megacap growth names, has rallied 76.5% so far this year on optimism over AI and hopes that the Fed is nearing the end of its rate hiking cycle.
The Fed is widely expected to deliver a 25-basis point interest rate hike later in the day, though there is less clarity over what the central bank will do at subsequent meetings.
"Beyond the July meeting, the path of policy is murkier as the substantial moderation in June's inflation print should give policymakers additional time to review incoming data," Henk Potts, a market strategist at Barclays Private Bank, said in a note.
"We still think that the (policymakers) will want to be assured that inflation will descend towards the 2% target level and therefore, forecast a final quarter-point increase at either the September or November meeting, making the terminal rate for this cycle 5.5-5.75%."
At 6:51 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 75 points, or 0.21%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 7.75 points, or 0.17%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 44 points, or 0.28%.
The blue-chips Dow extended its winning streak to a 12th straight session on Tuesday, driven by strong earnings in healthcare and financials and some rotation out of tech stocks.
In other earnings-driven news, Snap tumbled 18.6% after the photo messaging app-owner gave a weaker third-quarter guidance than analysts had expected as it works to compete with tech giants for advertising dollars.
Amazon.com fell 1.8% after a media report said the Federal Trade Commission is finalizing an antitrust lawsuit against the company.
Wells Fargo climbed 2.9% after the bank's board authorized a new share buyback program of up to $30 billion.
Thermo Fisher Scientific, U.S. railroad operator Union Pacific Corp, eBay, Boeing and Coca-Cola are expected to report results later in the day.
Comments