Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on March 22, 2023 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
Stock futures are modestly lower Wednesday night as investors appraised the latest batch of corporate earnings.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 25 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq-100 futures each slipped 0.2%.
Investors parsed a bevy of reports released from companies after the bell Wednesday. Tesla, a favorite of retail investors, slipped 4% after the electric vehicle maker reported that net income and GAAP earnings both fell more than 20% from a year ago. IBM rose nearly 2% after the company said margins were expanding.
The S&P 500 finished Wednesday’s session slightly below its flatline as investors digested the latest batch of earnings, including Netflix and Morgan Stanley, which are both members of the broad index. Though investor focus has largely moved to these quarterly results, the reporting companies alone have not driven the broader market, according to William Northey, senior investment director at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.
“Earnings reports have been mixed thus far, with individual stocks responding to specific company results relative to expectations rather than broad index directionality,” he said.
The Nasdaq Composite ended Wednesday slightly higher, while the Dow closed 0.2% lower.
Investors will watch Thursday for more earnings reports, including releases before the bell from Alaska Air and AT&T. Just over a tenth of companies in the S&P 500 have reported earnings as of Wednesday evening, according to FactSet.
Beyond earnings, investors will keep an eye on morning data on jobless claims and existing home sales. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester are among central bank speakers slated to give remarks on the economy around in the county in the afternoon and evening.
