U.S. stock futures rose Friday as traders awaited the release of more corporate earnings and key economic data.
Market Snapshot
At 7:50 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 159 points, or 0.52%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 15.75 points, or 0.42%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 40.5 points, or 0.34%.
Pre-Market Movers
UnitedHealth – The health insurer’s stock rose 1.7% in the premarket after its quarterly earnings and revenue beat forecasts, and it raised its full-year outlook. The company’s results were helped in part by a strong performance at its Optum health care services unit.
Wells Fargo – The bank reported quarterly earnings of 74 cents per share, which included an 8-cent equity impairment charge, compared with a consensus estimate of 80 cents. Revenue fell short of Wall Street forecasts during the quarter. Wells Fargo’s profit fell from a year ago as it set aside more money to cover possible bad loans, and the stock fell 1% in premarket trading.
Pinterest, Inc. – The image-sharing company’s stock soared 15.9% in premarket action after the Wall Street Journal reported that activist investor Elliot Management became a major shareholder, accumulating a more than 9% stake.
Rio Tinto PLC – The mining company’s stock fell 1.7% in the premarket after it warned that labor shortages in Australia would impact its second-quarter earnings.
BlackRock – The asset management firm earned an adjusted $7.36 per share for the second quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.90, with revenue also falling short of forecasts. Profit was down 30% from a year ago amid the global market turmoil that discouraged investors. BlackRock fell 1% in premarket trading.
Vertical Aerospace – The maker of electric aviation vehicles saw its stock surge 13.1% in premarket action after it announced a 50-vehicle order from European business jet operator FLYINGGROUP.
Solar stocks – Stocks in solar-related companies fell in the premarket after Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said he would not support new climate change funding bills.Sunrun(RUN) slid 7.6%,SunPower(SPWR) fell 5%,SolarEdge Technologies(SEDG) lost 3.7% and First Solar(FSLR) fell 3.1%.
Market News
President Joe Biden will discuss energy supply, human rights, and security cooperation in Saudi Arabia on Friday on a trip designed to reset the U.S. relationship with a country he once pledged to make a "pariah" on the world stage.
China’s Gross domestic product expanded at a 0.4% annual rate in the April to June period, China’s National Bureau of Statistics said Friday.
Amazon.com has started drastically reducing the number of items it sells under its own brands, and the company has discussed the possibility of exiting the private-label business entirely to alleviate regulatory pressure.
Wells Fargo bolstered its loan loss reserves by setting aside $580 million, compared with a release of $1.26 billion a year earlier, when aggressive monetary stimulus measures cushioned a blow from the pandemic and propped up the economy.
BlackRock posted a 30% drop in second-quarter profit on Friday as the turmoil in the global markets discouraged investors, shrinking the world's largest asset manager's fee income.
UnitedHealth said revenue rose 13% to $80.3 billion, driven by double-digit revenue growth at both its Optum and UnitedHealthcare units.
LM Ericsson Telephone has received clearance from the U.S. national security panel to complete a $6.2-billion acquisition of cloud communications firm Vonage, it said on Friday.
Rio Tinto PLC warned that labor shortages in Western Australia, continuing COVID lockdowns in China, falling commodity prices and rising inflation would cause considerable headwinds and weigh on its underlying earnings in this year's second half.