Investors on Wall Street could see some respite after major indices registered a downbeat session on Thursday. Index futures point to a positive start on Friday, ahead of the crucial monthly report on jobs data.

Thursday was a busy day as far as tech earnings are concerned, with Apple Inc. AAPL, Meta Platforms Inc. META, Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, and Intel Corp. INTC reported their September quarter results.

While Meta and Microsoft both fell in after-market hours, Amazon surged after the company handily beat Street consensus. The company expects its fourth-quarter sales to surge between 7% to 11%.

In premarket trading on Monday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY rose 0.43% to $571.07 and the Invesco QQQ ETF QQQ gained 0.51% to $486.33, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Cues From Last Session:

All three major indices registered a downbeat Thursday, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite posting their biggest single-day fall since Sept. 3.

The overall investor sentiment declined, with the Greed index entering the “Fear” territory.

Most sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a negative note, with information technology, consumer discretionary, and real estate stocks recording the biggest losses on Thursday. However, utilities and energy stocks bucked the overall market trend, closing the session higher.

Crude oil prices edged up, mostly recovering their losses over the previous weekend due to Israel’s missile strikes on Iran.

Treasury yields continued to climb amid fears of higher deficits due to a possible re-election of former President Donald Trump.

Besides, the International Monetary Fund has also warned about the long-term trajectory of U.S. national debt

Insights From Analysts:

Ryan Detrick, Chief Market Strategist at Carson Group, highlighted that November is the “best month of the year” as far as equity markets are concerned.

“The last time it fell more than 1% was in 2008, and it has been higher 11 of the past 12 years. Not to be outdone, it is the best month since 1950, in the past decade, and in election years, while it ranks as the second-best month the past 20 years (only July is better).”

Detrick added that the bull market is here to stay. After experiencing a bull run for the past three years, the expert highlighted that “the potential for many more years of gains is actually quite high.”

WisdomTree and Wharton School economist Jeremy Siegel, too, thinks earnings will beat interest rates, but there’s something more important to consider.

He added that there could be increased anxiety in the markets until the election is over, after which there could be a bounce back.

However, Siegel added that he now anticipates only three 25-basis point rate cuts between now and June next year.

“Earnings will trump interest rates for stocks, but certainly for bonds, they are not good,” Siegel told CNBC in an interview.

On the economic data front, U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 12,000 from the previous week to 216,000 in the week ending Oct. 26.

The personal consumption expenditure price index rose 0.2% month-over-month in September following a 0.1% increase in August.

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Upcoming Economic Data:

• The monthly jobs report is scheduled to be released at 8 a.m. ET.
• S&P’s final U.S. manufacturing PMI will be released at 9:30 a.m. ET.
• Construction spending data will be released at 10 a.m. ET.
• Auto sales data is expected to be released during the day.

Stocks In Focus:

• Apple Inc. AAPL shares fell 1.2% in premarket even as the company posted record quarterly revenue on the back of a rebound in iPhone sales.
• Amazon.com Inc. AMZN will be on investors’ radar after the company reported better-than-expected results during the September quarter. The stock is up 6.8% in premarket trading.
• Intel Corp. INTC is up nearly 6% in premarket trading even after the company posted a record loss of $16.6 billion during the September quarter.
• Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM shares surged 1.3% in premarket trading after the company beat earnings per share (EPS) estimates, even though it posted a slight miss on revenue.
• Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. DJT shares continued to fall amid increased volatility, falling 3.3% in premarket trading. The stock fell 11.7% on Thursday.
• Investors are awaiting earnings results from Chevron Corp. CVX and Cardinal Health Inc. CAH today.

Commodities, Bonds And Global Equity Markets:

Crude oil futures gained in the early New York session, rising 2.08% as Iran prepares for another attack on Israel.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield rose marginally to 4.289%.

Most Asian markets closed in the red on Friday, while European stocks were mostly higher in early trading.

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