US stock index futures traded virtually unchanged on Thursday, as investors digested the mixed earnings reports of major banks quite well, not panicking in the expectation of strong statistics in the future. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 54 points or 0.15%. S&P 500 futures fell 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 futures remained unchanged.
Major banks, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo, have already published earnings reports for the first quarter of this year. Goldman Sachs' stock price jumped almost 2% after the data beat expectations for first-quarter earnings. Goldman reported earnings of $ 10.76 per share and revenue of $ 12.93 billion. Analysts had expected earnings per share of $ 8.89 and revenue of $ 11.83 billion.
Morgan Stanley shares also rose 2% after the bank reported an excess profit. The financial conglomerate earned $ 2.02 per share, with a revenue of $ 14.8 billion. According to the consensus forecast, Morgan Stanley was expected to report $ 1.68 per share and revenue of $ 14.2 billion.
Citigroup shares rose the most in the premarket, showing an upward movement of 3% after the company beat profit forecasts thanks to higher-than-expected revenue. Earnings were $ 2.02 per share compared to an estimate of $ 1.55 per share. Revenue was $ 19.19 billion compared to an estimate of $ 18.15 billion.
The fact that the market reacts to the reports quite calmly indicates the modest expectations of investors from the banking sector, which was seriously affected after the start of Russia's military special operation on the territory of Ukraine. It is expected that the profit for the sector in the first quarter will decrease by about 1%, which may lead to demand for stocks in the expectation of growth in the future due to interest income, which will change due to the actions of the Federal Reserve System to raise the key interest rate.
The retail sales data released today for March of this year slightly fell short of analysts' expectations, showing an increase of 0.5% compared to the forecast of 0.6%. Everything is expected here, as high inflation continues to negatively affect consumer spending.
Given the extreme level of the geopolitical crisis and the sharp turn of the Fed, the market continues to remain stable, which indicates good prospects for the future, especially after the conflicts are over and the Fed's policy returns to normal.
During yesterday's regular session, the Dow Jones index rose by 344 points or 1%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose 1% and 2%, respectively, breaking a three-day losing streak.
Premarket
Twitter shares rose in the premarket on Thursday after Elon Musk offered to buy the company at $ 54.20 per share. Musk said that this is his best and last offer for Twitter. After that, Twitter's securities grew by 8.2%. The proposed deal is estimated at $ 43 billion.
Insurance company UnitedHealth Group reported adjusted quarterly earnings of $ 5.49 per share, 11 cents higher than estimates, while revenue also exceeded Wall Street forecasts. On the premarket, the shares are trading in the black.
UPS shares rose 1% after Loop Capital upgraded their rating to "buy" from "hold," saying their call is largely based on an attractive valuation of the delivery service's stock.
Western Digital (WDC) and Seagate Technology (STX) fell in the premarket after Susquehanna Financial downgraded the ratings of both hard drive manufacturers, moving Western Digital from "positive" to "neutral" and Seagate from "neutral" to "negative". Western Digital fell 3% in the premarket, while Seagate lost 3.3%.
As for the technical picture of the S&P 500
The bulls managed to break above the $ 4,433 level yesterday, and now we need to think about how to protect this range. There is a lot of pessimism, but a good reporting season should dispel it. If the trading instrument falls below the $ 4,433 level, buyers will have to defend the next support of $ 4,383. Having missed this range, you can say goodbye to growth, and it is best in this case to postpone the purchase of a trading instrument to the lows of $ 4,319 and $ 4,265. It is possible to talk about the return of the market under the control of buyers only if it is fixed above $ 4,433, and for this, we need a reverse test of this level, which has not yet taken place. This will allow you to return the upward potential and reach the resistances of $ 4,488 and $ 4,539. A breakdown of these ranges will open the way to the highs of $ 4,589 and $ 4,637.
