Upbeat Meta Earnings, Guidance May Lead To Initial Strength On Wall Street

The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a modestly higher open on Thursday, with stocks likely to move to the upside after ending the previous session little changed.

A positive reaction to earnings news from Meta Platforms (META) may lead to early strength on Wall Street, as the Facebook parent is spiking by 9.2 percent in pre-market trading.

The surge by Meta comes after the company reported better than expected fourth quarter results and forecast first quarter revenues above analyst estimates.

Shares of IBM Corp. (IBM) are also moving sharply higher in pre-market trading after the tech giant reported fourth quarter results that exceeded expectations on both the top and bottom lines.

Electric vehicle maker Tesla (TSLA) may also move to the upside after reporting better than expected fourth quarter results.

On the other hand, a steep drop by shares of Microsoft (MSFT) may limit the upside for the markets, with the software giant plunging by 6.3 percent in pre-market trading.

The slump by Microsoft comes after the company reported slowing cloud computing growth in its fiscal second quarter and provided disappointing third quarter operating margin guidance.

After failing to sustain an early move to the upside, the major U.S. stocks indexes quickly gave back ground and spent much of the rest of Wednesday’s session lingering near the unchanged line. The major averages eventually ended the day narrowly mixed.

While the S&P 500 edged down 0.57 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 6,978.03, the Dow crept up 12.19 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 49,015.60 and the Nasdaq rose 40.35 points or 0.2 percent to 23,857.45.

The choppy trading on Wall Street continued after the Federal Reserve announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged.

The Fed said it decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 3.50 to 3.75 percent following three consecutive quarter point rate cuts.

As with other recent decisions, the choice to leave rates unchanged was not unanimous, as Fed Governors Stephen Miran and Christopher Waller preferred cutting rates by another quarter point.

The Fed said the decision to leave rates unchanged came amid elevated uncertainty about the economic outlook.

The central bank also said it remains attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate of maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run.

“While not a unanimous vote, there does seem to be a clear and consistent majority in favor of a pause in this rate-cutting cycle, a pause that likely continues unless or until the job market weakens further,” said Mortgage Bankers Association SVP and Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni.

He added, “With inflation remaining elevated, the FOMC majority does not seem in any rush to make further rate moves.”

CME Group’s FedWatch Tool suggests investors currently expect the Fed to keep rates on hold until after Fed Chair Jerome Powell steps down in May.

With the decision to leave rates unchanged almost universally expected, traders may have been more focused on earnings from several big-name tech companies after the close of trading.

Despite the choppy trading by the broader markets, gold stocks moved sharply higher amid a continued surge by the price of the precious metal, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 2.7 percent to a new record closing high.

Substantial strength was also visible among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 2.6 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index.

The index also reached a new record closing high amid a spike by shares of Seagate Technology, which soared by 19.1 percent after the data storage company reported better than expected fiscal second quarter results.

Semiconductor and networking stocks also saw considerable strength on the day, while oil service, pharmaceutical and biotechnology stocks showed significant moves to the downside.

Commodity, Currency Markets

Crude oil futures are surging $2.04 to $63.25 a barrel after jumping $0.82 to $63.21 a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, after soaring $221 to $5,303.60 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are spiking $207.60 to $5,511.20 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 153.26 yen versus the 153.40 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1958 compared to yesterday’s $1.1952.

Asia

Asian stocks ended mixed on Thursday, recovering some lost ground after a sluggish start as U.S.-Iran tensions escalated and tech earnings proved to be a mixed bag.

U.S. President Donald Trump has warned Iran that “time is running out” to negotiate a deal on its nuclear program following the steady build-up of U.S. military forces in the Gulf.

In response, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the country’s armed forces were ready “with their fingers on the trigger” to “immediately and powerfully respond” to any aggression by land or sea.

Meanwhile, all eyes are now on Apple after Microsoft’s quarterly results highlighted rising costs linked to heavy AI investment.

The dollar weakened, halting Wednesday’s bounce, as concerns over the Federal Reserve’s independence, combined with ongoing fiscal pressures and tariff worries overshadowed comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that Washington was still pursuing a “strong dollar policy”.

10-year Treasury yields moved higher after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged and upped its assessment of the U.S. economy.

Gold jumped more than 2 percent to touch a new peak above $5,550 an ounce, prompting some experts to raise yellow flags about what comes next.

Oil extended a recent rally, driven by a weaker dollar, looming Iran concerns and disruption to crude production and exports from the U.S. Gulf Coast.

China’s Shanghai Composite Index edged up by 0.2 percent to 4,157.98, with real estate stocks surging after reports emerged that Chinese property developers are no longer required to report monthly data related to the country’s “three red lines” policy. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.51 percent to 27,968.09.

Japanese markets swung between gains and losses before closing roughly flat. The Nikkei 225 Index finished marginally higher at 53.375.60 as government bonds showed mixed movement and the yen’s sudden strength revived carry-trade unwind fears. The broader Topix Index closed up 0.3 percent at 3,545.30.

Seoul stocks extended gains for a third day running to close at a new peak, with chip stocks and automakers leading the surge. The Kospi jumped 1 percent to end at 5,221.25.

Hyundai Motor shares soared 7.2 percent. Samsung Electronics fell more than 1 percent despite the chip giant reporting an over three-fold surge in fourth-quarter profits, hitting a new record and beating analysts’ estimates. SK Hynix advanced 2.4 percent after overtaking Samsung in operating profit.

Australian markets ended marginally lower as rare earths stocks sank on reports that the Trump administration is stepping back from plans to guarantee a minimum price for U.S. critical minerals projects.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX-50 Index fell 0.5 percent to 13,348.61, extending losses from the previous session after a survey showed growing plans by firms to hike their prices.

Europe

European stocks are broadly higher on Thursday as a raft of upbeat earnings reports offset concerns over extended dollar weakness and escalating U.S.-Iran tensions.

Investors were also reacting to the Federal Reserve’s status quo decision on interest rates and a slew of U.S. tech earnings released after the markets close on Wednesday.

Euro zone bond yields were steady amid concerns over the euro’s strength potentially prompting the ECB to cut rates.

The pan European Stoxx 600 Index is up 0.7 percent after falling 0.8 percent on Wednesday. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is also up by 0.9 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.8 percent, although the German DAX Index has bucked the uptrend and slumped by 1.0 percent.

British budget airline EasyJet has moved sharply higher after reiterating its full-year guidance.

Antofagasta has also soared as the mining giant reported a modest 1.6 percent drop in its 2025 copper production.

ING Groep has also risen. The Dutch bank upgraded its FY27 outlook after reporting a 22 percent rise in net profit and 7.2 percent increase in revenue for the fourth quarter.

STMicroelectronics has also surged after the chipmaker forecast first-quarter revenue slightly above market expectations.

French spirits maker Remy Cointreau has also spiked after third-quarter sales beat consensus on organic growth.

ABB has also jumped. The Swiss industrial technology company wrapped up the year with higher orders and record quarterly revenues.

Meanwhile, Swedish fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz has moved to the downside after flagging slow winter sales.

German lender Deutsche Bank has also moved notably lower despite posting its largest annual profit since 2007.

Business software maker SAP has also plummeted after its fourth quarter earnings missed estimates.

Nokia shares have also slumped. The Finnish network equipment provider published a somewhat lower-than-expected forecast for 2026.

U.S. Economic News

First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits slipped from an upwardly revised level in the week ended January 24th, the Labor Department revealed in a report released on Thursday.

The report said initial jobless claims edged down to 209,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 210,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 205,000 from the 200,000 originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average crept up to 206,250, an increase of 2,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 204,000.

A separate report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday showed the U.S. trade deficit surged by much more than expected in the month of November.

The Commerce Department said the trade deficit widened to $56.8 billion in November from a revised $29.2 billion in October.

Economists had expected the trade deficit to grow to $45.0 billion from the $29.4 billion originally reported for the previous month.

The wider than expected trade deficit came as the value of imports spiked by 5.0 percent, while the value of exports plunged by 3.6 percent.

At 10 am ET, the Commerce Department is due to release its report on factory orders in the month of November. Factory orders are expected to jump by 1.6 percent in November after slumping by 1.3 percent in October.

The Commerce Department is also scheduled to release its report on wholesale inventories in the month of November at 10 am ET.

At 1 pm ET, the Treasury Department is due to announce the results of this month’s auction of $44 billion worth of seven-year notes.