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Futures contracts pegged to major U.S. stock indices fell in the night session as a weak earnings report from Amazon threatened to dampen an otherwise strong month leading up to the last day of trading in July.
S&P 500 futures lost 0.65% while those pegged to the Nasdaq 100 lost 1.2%. Dow futures fell 70 points.
The barrage of earnings reports for the week continued after Thursday’s closing bell, with e-commerce giant Amazon and social media platform Pinterest providing earnings updates to investors.
Amazon’s shares fell 7.4% in expanded trading after the company reported its first quarterly loss of revenue in three years and issued a weaker forecast. The move in Amazon stock helped weigh on the Nasdaq 100 futures. Pinterest fell even further, 19% after losing monthly users in the three months ended June 30.
Stocks of online brokerage Robinhood started trading on Nasdaq Thursday at $ 38 per share, but the stock eventually closed its debut session more than 8% lower than $ 34.82 per share.
Stocks rebounded during Thursday’s regular session, even after the Commerce Department said economic growth in the US slowed somewhat in the second quarter.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained around 150 points on Thursday after hitting a new intraday high. The S&P 500, which also briefly hit an all-time high, ended the day up 0.4% at 4,419.15.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite underperformed by 0.1%, which was contained by a 4% decline in Facebook shares following the social media company’s earnings report.
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These gains contributed to an otherwise healthy month for the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq. The Composite and the Dow gained 1.89% and 1.69% respectively in July, while the broad S&P 500 gained 2.83% over the same period. Utilities, healthcare, real estate and technology stocks led the S&P 500 higher for the month, while energy and financials lagged.
Thursday’s positive session came despite a government report showing that U.S. gross domestic product rose 6.5% on an annualized basis in the second quarter, well below the 8.4% Dow Jones estimate.
The GDP update wasn’t the only economic news Wall Street brooded on this week. Many investors were relieved that the US Federal Reserve did not signal any imminent plans to reverse its security purchases.
Fed chairman Jerome Powell noted on Wednesday that while the economy has come a long way since the Covid-19 recession, it still has a way to go before the central bank considers adjusting its monetary policy.
“While expectations are specific to GDP in the 2nd” With US businesses reopening to business and American consumers eager to rush to the market and spend money, growth was solid in the first half of the year. “
The Fed will get the latest iteration of its favorite inflation meter, the consumer spending price index, Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. ET.
