Nasdaq 100 futures jumped more than 2% Thursday after Meta earnings brightened investors' moods.- Meta soared 17% in premarket trading after Facebook added more users than expected in the first quarter.
Futures for the tech-heavy
Nasdaq 100 futures were up 2.23%, S&P 500 futures were 1.64% higher, and Dow Jones futures rose 1.01%.
Stocks have fallen dramatically in April as investors have fretted about central bank policy and growth. But the mood brightened Thursday after a slew of tech earnings beat expectations.
Meta Platforms, formerly known as Facebook, added more users in the first quarter than analysts had been expecting, its earnings report showed late Wednesday. Revenue grew 6.6% year-on-year to $27.9 billion, its slowest growth since going public in 2012.
The company's stock was down around 48% for the year before the earnings were released, but soared 16.98% in pre-market trading Thursday.
Qualcomm was up 8.22% in premarket after the chipmaker gave an outlook that was rosier than expected. PayPal was 2.41% higher after the payment company's revenue beat expectations.
Apple and Amazon are expected to release quarterly earnings Thursday, with Mastercard and McDonald's among the other big companies due to post financial updates.
"Investors seem to be clamoring for good news, and Meta's results coming within touching distance of expectations scratched that itch," Laura Hoy, equity analyst at broker Hargreaves Lansdown, said.
In Europe, the continent-wide Stoxx 600 stock index was up 1.17%. Overnight in Asia, China's CSI 300 climbed 0.66%, and Tokyo's Nikkei 225 rose 1.75%.
The closely-watched 10-year US Treasury note was little changed Thursday at 2.832%.
Meanwhile, the dollar continued to rise as expectations that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates aggressively drew investors to the greenback. The dollar index was up 0.47% to 103.43, its highest level since early 2017.
Despite some stability over the last two days, US stocks remained deep in the red for the year, with the