Reuters/Handout
A French Dassault Rafale jet receives fuel from a U.S. Air Force KC-10 tanker aircraft near Iraq
Japan can't escape deflation. Consumer prices in Japan fell 0.5% year-over-year in September, matching the largest drop since March 2011. The Japanese yen is little changed at 105.29 per dollar.
Amazon is tumbling after its earnings miss. The online retailer posted a big earnings miss, announcing third quarter earnings of $0.52 per share, well below the $0.78 that Wall Street was anticipating. Shares tumbled as much as 9% following the report and now point to a 5% drop at the open.
Google beats on the top and bottom lines. The search behemoth earned $9.06 per share on revenue of $18.3 billion, and said it would buy back $7 billion worth of stock. Paid clicks rose by 33% while cost-per-click fell by 11%.
Anheuser Busch InBev lowers its revenue forecast. The world's largest brewer had a rough quarter thanks to weakness in its Brazil business and lowered its revenue growth per hectoliter to be in line with inflation after previously suggesting it would outpace inflation.
General Electric and Baker Hughes are discussing potential partnerships. "While nothing is concluded, none of these options include an outright purchase," GE's statement said. Shares of Baker Hughes soared as much as 14% in after hours trade on Thursday before halving their gains ahead of Friday's open.
Chipotle is defending itself from Bill Ackman. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz are among the firms hired by Chipotle to fend off potential demands from activist investor Bill Ackman, two sources told Reuters.
The biggest IPO of the year had a brutal start. Chinese package delivery company ZTO Express plunged 15% in its New York Stock Exchange debut.
Stock markets around the world are mixed. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (-0.8%) led a mixed session lower in Asia and Spain's IBEX (+0.3%) is among the gainers in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open higher by 0.5% near 2,133.
Earnings reporting is heavy ahead of the opening bell. Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Hershey, and Mastercard are among the names reporting before markets open.
US economic data flows. The Employment Cost Index and GDP will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET before University of Michigan consumer confidence crosses the wires at 10 a.m. ET. The Baker Hughes rig count is due out at 1 p.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is unchanged at 1.85%.