Dow Futures Fall 130 Pts; Apple to Help Nasdaq Outperform

© Reuters.

By Peter Nurse   

Investing.com - U.S. stocks are seen opening largely lower Friday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq outperforming after strong quarterly sales numbers from Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL).

At 7:05 AM ET (1205 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was down 130 points, or 0.4%, S&P 500 Futures traded 12 points, or 0.3%, lower, while Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 9 points, or 0.1%.

Apple, the largest company in the world by market capitalization, posted record sales over the important holiday quarter, using its heft with vendors to handle supply chain challenges, factory shutdowns and shipping delays better than most competitors.

The iPhone maker’s revenue rose 11% year-on-year to almost $124 billion in the fourth quarter, according to data released after the close Thursday, with revenue from services, seen as the key to its future growth, jumping 24% to top $19 billion.

However, the major indices on Wall Street have seen selling of late amid worries over the expected pace of monetary policy tightening by the Federal Reserve as the U.S. central bank looks to bring down soaring inflation.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed marginally lower Thursday, its ninth losing day in 10. The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.5%, and is down 1.6% week to date, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 1.4%, on track for its fifth negative week on the trot.

These losses have arrived despite another solid quarterly earning season, with nearly 80% of the 145 S&P 500 companies that have reported to date topping expectations, according to data from Refinitiv.

With the intentions of the Federal Reserve at the forefront of investors’ minds, there will be a lot of focus on the release of consumer spending, income and the Fed’s favorite inflation measure, the PCE, later in the session. The Michigan consumer sentiment surveys are also due for release.

Aside from Apple, other companies that are likely to be in focus later Friday are oil giant Chevron (NYSE:CVX), heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) and consumer products conglomerate Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL), which are scheduled to release quarterly earnings. 

Oil prices pushed higher Friday, on course for their sixth consecutive weekly gain, with the market remaining concerned over supply levels ahead of the latest meeting of top producers.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, a group known as OPEC+, is expected to stick with its plan to increase output in a cautious manner in March when it meets next week.

The Baker Hughes’ drilling rig count and the CFTC’s positioning data round off the week later in the session.

By 7:05 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.8% higher at $87.30 a barrel, having climbed to a seven-year high of $88.54 on Thursday, while the Brent contract rose 0.8% to $88.83, just off the previous session’s peak, which was the highest since October 2014. 

Additionally, gold futures fell 0.5% to $1,784.80/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% lower at 1.1136.