Woodshaw Financial Group Principal D.R. Barton on his outlook for the markets.
U.S. stock futures were pointing higher Friday morning, putting the major averages on track for a fourth straight day of gains and on a collision course with all-time highs.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 157 points, or 0.45%, while S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.4% and 0.36%, respectively. All three of the major averages ended Thursday’s session within 0.5% of their respective record highs.
In stocks, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger told The Wall Street Journal that the global chip shortage could stretch into 2023. The shortage, which was the result of lockdowns aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19 has snarled auto production and caused supply chain dislocations in other industries, including cell phones and consumer electronics.
In earnings, Dow component American Express Co. reported revenue jumped 33% from a year ago as consumer spending topped pre-pandemic levels. The credit card giant released $866 million of reserves that had been built up to protect against losses during the pandemic.
Twitter Inc. exceeded Wall Street estimates on both the top and bottom lines as revenue surged 74% year over year, the fastest since 2014. The number of monetizable daily active users grew 11%.
Snap Inc. beat on earnings and revenue as the number of global daily active users rose to 293 million, up almost 5% from the previous quarter. The social media company guided for revenue growth of 58% to 60% in the current quarter, down from the 116% annualized growth from last quarter.
The strong results boosted other tech names including Amazon.com, Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp.
Next week, Boeing Co., Facebook Inc., Tesla Inc, United Parcel Service Inc., Mastercard Inc. and McDonald’s Corp. are among the companies scheduled to report their quarterly results.
In commodities, West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 22 cents to $71.69 a barrel and gold slipped $7.50 to $1,797.90 an ounce.
Overseas markets were mixed with strength in Europe and weakness in Asia.
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European bourses rallied across the board with France’s CAC 40 up 1.03%, Germany’s DAX 30 advancing 0.97% and Britain’s FTSE 100 climbing 0.84%.
In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slid 1.45% and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 0.68%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 remained closed for holiday.
