U.S. stock index futures rose slightly in evening deals on Thursday, with streaming giant Netflix rising sharply after it clocked stronger-than-expected earnings in the September quarter.
Broader market gains were also biased towards technology stocks, with chipmakers upbeat after positive earnings from industry bellwether TSMC (NYSE:TSM).
Futures steadied after a mildly positive session on Wall Street, as stronger-than-expected retail sales data further underpinned inflation expectations. But tech was a bright spot.
S&P 500 Futures rose 0.1% to 5,891.75 points, while Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 0.2% to 20,404.25 points by 19:17 ET (23:17 GMT). Dow Jones Futures steadied at 43,514.0 points.
Netflix surges on Q3 beat, tech stocks positive
Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) shares rose 4.9% in aftermarket trade on Thursday after the streaming giant clocked stronger-than-expected third-quarter earnings and also provided an upbeat outlook for the current quarter.
The firm added more subscribers than expected, with more people signing up for Netflix’s ads-based subscription tiers.
The earnings set a positive tone for upcoming prints from several major technology firms in the coming week. Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is set to report next Tuesday, while Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) are due later in the week.
Sentiment towards tech stocks, especially chipmakers, was buoyed by strong earnings and guidance from Taiwan’s TSMC. The stock fell slightly in evening deals after surging nearly 10% during the session.
TSMC signaled that an artificial intelligence-driven boom remained largely in play, helping investors look past weak guidance from semiconductor equipment maker ASML (AS:ASML) (NASDAQ:ASML) earlier this week. Both firms are considered as bellwethers for chipmaking.
Market darling NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) steadied in evening trade after briefly racing to a record high during the session.
Wall Street mildly positive after strong retail sales
Wall Street indexes eked out some gains on Thursday as stronger-than-expected retail sales data pointed to continued resilience in the economy.
But the reading also furthered the notion that strength in the U.S. economy will necessitate lesser monetary easing from the Federal Reserve. Traders largely maintained bets on a 25 basis point cut in November.
The S&P 500 ended flat at 5,841.47 points, while the NASDAQ Composite steadied at 18,373.54 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4% to a record closing high of 43,239.05 points.
