Stock futures rose on Wednesday after earnings reports from two bigwigs raised hopes that corporate earnings could be better than feared even with a possible recession on the horizon.
Futures contracts linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 340 points, or 1%. S&P 500 futures rose 0.8% and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.6%.
Nike shares rose 12% after the clothing maker’s win Wall Street quarterly earnings and revenue forecasts. FedEx gained 4.7%, although it fell short of revenue expectations. Package delivery giant It beat the consensus earnings per share estimates on each share.
As 2022 comes to an end, the three major averages are on track to post their worst annual performance since 2008 and snap a 3-year winning streak. As of Tuesday’s close, the Dow Jones was down 9.6%. For the month, it was down about 5%. The S&P is down 19.82% for the year and more than 6% for December, while the Nasdaq is down 32.58% in 2022 and about 8% this month.
Wednesday’s moves followed a day of modest gains for stocks. Major indexes snapped a four-day losing streak, bringing some wind back into hopes of a year-end rally.
The modest gains came even after the Bank of Japan moved to expand its cap on the 10-year Japanese government bond yield, which led to a rally in the 10-year US Treasury yield that initially unnerved traders.
There are a few big names left to report earnings before the Christmas holidays, with Micron reporting after the bell.
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