Stock futures rose on Thursday evening as Wall Street looked to finish the week higher, fueled by strong quarterly reports from key tech companies.
S&P 500 futures climbed 0.5%, while Nasdaq 100 futures added 1%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were flat.
Futures were supported by gains in extended trading by two of the market’s biggest stocks. Shares of Amazon and Apple moved higher after showing strong sales growth in cloud computing and iPhones, respectively, in their most recent quarters.
The move in futures comes on the heels of a second-straight rally for stocks. The Dow is now up nearly 2% for the week, while the S&P 500 the Nasdaq Composite are up 2.8%.
Those gains have come despite a three-quarters of a percentage point hike from the Federal Reserve on Wednesday and a negative GDP reading on Thursday.
“The market is taking on a hope that slowing economic growth is going to result in a more dovish Fed moving forward, even if it’s a little further out. So it would make sense to me that weaker rates expectations moving forward would result in a little buoyancy in the equity markets,” said Lauren Goodwin, economist and portfolio strategist of New York Life Investments.
However, Goodwin cautioned that the unusual economic environment and the long period before the next Fed meeting make it difficult to predict the central bank’s path from here.
Investors will get updated looks at a key inflation reading and second-quarter employment costs on Friday, which could be key data points for the Fed as it considers its next move.
Investors have also been navigating a mixed batch of earnings reports this week. Shares of Roku sank more than 20% in after hours trading after the company missed estimates and warned of a slowdown in advertising. Chipmaker Intel dropped 7% after its quarterly results fell short of expectations.
On Friday, key earnings include Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Procter & Gamble.
