By Liz Moyer
Investing.com -- Stocks rose modestly on Wednesday as big tech earnings surprises rolled in.
Google parent Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ:GOOGL) helped lift the broader market after better-than-expected profit and revenue as ad spending returned to YouTube and Search businesses.
Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), on the other hand, fell slightly after news its founder and CEO Jeff Bezos was stepping away from day to day management later this year.
The biggest influence in the market is a report that President Joe Biden is considering compromises on his proposed $1.9 trillion stimulus, including sending checks to a smaller group of Americans.
The apparent olive branch could potentially sway some Republicans to warm up to the idea of backing the bill, helping Democrats secure the GOP votes that would be needed in the Senate.
The economic recovery continues to strengthen, according to job and other data that will be confirmed by the government’s official job report for January this Friday.
Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:
1. Earnings from big pharma and oil majors
Pharmaceutical giants Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) report earnings on Thursday, as does oil giant Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSa) PLC Class A (AS:RDSa).
Analysts tracked by Investing.com expect Merck to report earnings per share of $1.38 on revenue of $12.7 billion. Bristol Myers is seen with EPS of $1.41 on sales of $10.7 billion. Shell is expected to have EPS of 14 cents on revenue of $53 billion.
2. Jobless claims
More jobless data is due out Thursday at 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT), namely in the form of unemployment benefit claims. Initial claims are expected to be 830,000 and continuing claims are expected to be 4.7 million.
On Wednesday, ADP said private-sector employment rose by 174,000 last month, surpassing the 70,000 job gains expected.
3. Zoom Video gets a competitor
The software IPO boom continues with Wednesday’s debut of video-marketing company ON24 Inc (NYSE:ONTF). The shares surged 45% on their first trading day to above $70 after pricing at $50.
ON24 raised $315 million in the offering. The pandemic-winning online communication company Zoom Video Communications Inc (NASDAQ:ZM) also jumped big-time after its 2019 IPO. Last month it said it was going to sell another $1.5 billion shares in a secondary offering.