Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., April 24, 2025.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
S&P 500 futures rose on Thursday evening on the heels of Wall Street seeing its third straight day of gains and Alphabet’s latest quarterly results.
Futures linked to the S&P 500 were 0.2% higher, while Nasdaq-100 futures gained 0.3%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average hovered around the flatline.
In extended trading, shares of Alphabet jumped more than 5% after the Google-parent and “Magnificent Seven” name beat on the top and bottom lines for the first quarter. By contrast, Intel shares fell more than 5% after offering disappointing guidance and revealing that it plans to slash operational and capital expenses.
The moves follow the three major averages closing solidly in the green during Thursday’s session, putting them on a three-day winning streak. That was bolstered by advances in megacap technology names, which have taken a beating over the past month amid investor fears of rising global trade tensions.
Stocks have been in a trading range following the initial shock of President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs announcement on April 2 as investors await clarity on negotiations with key trading partners such as China. That country revealed Thursday that there were no ongoing discussions on tariffs, and Ministry of Commerce spokesperson He Yadong also called for the cancellation of “unilateral measures on China.”
That comes in response to the White House signaling earlier this week that it may ease its stance on China tariffs, which sit at a total of 145% on imports from the country. On Tuesday, Trump said that the tariff rate will “come down substantially. But it won’t be zero.“
“I think that really all the market needed was just a little spark to kind of move it off some of these depressed levels, and I think that’s what we’re seeing,” said Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise. “I think we’re still in for a period of choppiness around stock trading, and I think heading into next week, it’s really going to be the big tech earnings that are going to really influence where the major averages go.”
The leading indexes are on pace to end the week higher. As of Thursday’s close, the S&P 500 has a week-to-date gain of nearly 4%. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite are up more than 2% and more than 5% on the week, respectively.
Other key names like AutoNation, Colgate-Palmolive and AbbVie are set to report their quarterly results before the bell on Friday.
Investors are also looking ahead to consumer sentiment data for April, due out at 10:00 a.m. ET. Economists polled by Dow Jones are expecting the reading to show no change from the previous month at 50.8.
