Dow Futures Fall 110 Pts; Weak Snap Earnings Weigh on Social Media Sector

By Peter Nurse

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks are seen opening lower Friday, weighed by disappointing earnings from Snap, with rising Treasury yields and recession fears also hitting sentiment.

At 07:00 ET (11:00 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was down 110 points, or 0.4%, S&P 500 Futures traded 17 points, or 0.5%, lower, and Nasdaq 100 Futures dropped 90 points, or 0.8%.

The main U.S. equity indices closed lower Thursday, with the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 90 points, or 0.3%, the broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.8%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.6%.

Investors remain worried that the Federal Reserve's aggressive campaign to cool the economy would tip it into a recession, resulting in soaring U.S. Treasury yields. The benchmark 10-year yield posted a high of 4.291%, a level not seen since 2008.

That said, the major averages are still on pace for gains of around 2% this week, their best week since early September, helped by strong gains on the first two days of the week on the back of generally positive corporate earnings.

Earnings announced after the close Thursday were more mixed.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) stock slumped more than 28% premarket after the owner of the photo messaging app Snapchat forecast no revenue growth in the typically busy holiday quarter, sending a warning signal to the likes of Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) and Twitter (NYSE:TWTR), companies that rely on digital advertising.

Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR) stock fell about 3% premarket after the household appliances manufacturer cut its outlook on full-year earnings amid rampant inflation and slowing demand.

However, CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) rose over 5% premarket after the railroad operator reported strong third-quarter results, beating expectations on both the top and bottom lines.

The quarterly results season continues Friday, with numbers from telecommunications giant Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ), credit card company American Express (NYSE:AXP), and oilfield services company Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) among those scheduled for this session.

Oil prices edged higher Friday amid choppy trading, with the market caught between worries about a global economic slowdown and supply curbs from the globe’s top producers.

U.S. crude oil inventories fell surprisingly last week, suggesting demand in the world’s largest economy remained steady even as the Biden administration announced plans to release more crude from strategic reserves.

The Baker Hughes rig count and the CFTC’s positioning data round off the week later in the session.

By 07:00 ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.5% higher at $84.92 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 0.4% to $92.78.

Additionally, gold futures fell 0.5% to $1,629.15/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.3% lower at 0.9751.