Futures point to higher open as yields ease, focus turns to megacaps

Reuters

Futures point to higher open as yields ease, focus turns to megacaps

Oct 25, 2024 at 1:14 pm GMT

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Apple falls after decline in China Q3 sales

Capri plummets after US judge blocks Tapestry merger

Centene jumps following Q3 profit beat

Indexes set for weekly losses

Futures up: Dow 0.20%, S&P 500 0.28%, Nasdaq 0.36%

Updated at 8:30 a.m. ET/1230 GMT

By Lisa Pauline Mattackal and Purvi Agarwal

Oct 25 (Reuters) -U.S. stock indexes were set to open slightly higher on Friday as Treasury yields eased and investors looked ahead to quarterly results from Wall Street's biggest companies.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dipped to 4.2% after rising as high as 4.26% earlier in the week.

The three major stock indexes, however, looked set to snap their six-week winning streak, with equities unsettled by the rapid rise in yields as rate cut bets unraveled on expectations of a stronger economic outlook.

"The upward move in yields has paused for a bit, allowing the stock market to catch its breath and focus on company earnings, which by and large have been pretty good," said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird.

Tesla's TSLA.O shares dipped 1.5% in premarket trading, following anearly 22% surge in the previous session, as investors cheered the EV-maker's strong sales forecast.

Gains in the stock helped the S&P 500 .SPX register its firstdaily advance of the week.

The week starting Oct. 28, the final stretch before the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, promises to be crucial for Wall Street, marked by results from megacap tech firms including AlphabetGOOGL.O, Apple AAPL.O and Microsoft MSFT.O as well as the release of nonfarmpayrolls data.

Shares of Apple AAPL.O dipped 0.6% on a brokerage downgrade and afterdata showed a decline iniPhone sales in China. Meta Platforms META.O rose 0.8%, Amazon.com AMZN.O was up 0.7% and Nvidia NVDA.O gained 0.4%.

Dow E-minis 1YMcv1 were up 87 points, or 0.2%, U.S. S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were up 16.5 points, or 0.28% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 74 points, or 0.36%.

Capri Holdings CPRI.N slumped 47.6% after a U.S. judge blocked a pending merger between the company and handbag maker Tapestry TPR.N. Shares of Tapestry rose 14.6%.

Regional lender New York Community Bancorp NYCB.N dropped 11% after reporting its fourth straight quarter of loss , primarily due to its commercial real estate loans.

Memory-chip-maker Western Digital's WDC.O shares leapt 12% after it topped quarterly profit estimates on Thursday, while health insurer Centene CNC.N advanced 12.2% after beating estimates for third-quarterprofit.

A mixed set of earnings across sectors and continued uncertainty around the U.S. election have also made investors cautious, thoughmarkets have started pricing in a second Donald Trump administration in recent weeks.

"We're so close to the election that it does feel like markets are in a bit of a holding pattern," Mayfield said.

Data showed SeptemberDurable Goods orders slipped 0.8%, less than the 1% forecast.

The University of Michigan's final Consumer Sentiment index is still on deck, while the Boston Fed's Susan Collins is scheduled to speak on the day. FED/DIARY

Investors are still pricing in another 25-basis-point rate cut at the Fed's November meeting. They expect about two rate cuts by the end of the year, according to LSEG data.

USA-ELECTION/STOCKS Wall Street performs better under a unified government but... https://reut.rs/4hbOKMJ

Wall Street set to snap six-week winning run https://reut.rs/40fjOW1

Reporting by Lisa Mattackal and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty

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