Stock futures mixed as Apple, Tesla earnings in focus

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White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki answers reporter questions about Janet Yellen and the GameStop stock surge.

U.S. stock futures were mixed Thursday morning as investors digested an inline fourth-quarter gross domestic product reading and another batch of earnings from tech heavyweights.

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Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were higher by 63 points, or 0.21%, while S&P 500 futures were higher by 0.05% and Nasdaq Composite futures were down 0.57%. The choppy trade comes after the S&P 500 on Wednesday plunged into negative territory for the year.

GDP grew at a 4% annualized rate in the three months through December, according to a preliminary reading from the Commerce Department. The reading was in line with the expectations of analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.

Elsewhere in the economy, initial jobless claims fell to 847,000 from an upwardly revised 914,000 the week prior. Wall Street analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were anticipating a decline to 875,000. Continuing claims fell to 4.771 million, below the 5.054 million that was expected.

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Looking at stocks, Dow component Apple Inc. reported strong iPhone 12 demand resulted in the company’s first $100 billion revenue quarter in history. Sales across all product categories increased by double digits as profit jumped 35% from a year ago.

Tesla Inc., meanwhile, posted its sixth straight quarter of profitability, but earnings were well below Wall Street estimates. The electric-car maker expects deliveries to grow by at least 50% annually going forward.

Facebook Inc. announced quarterly earnings and sales hit a record in the final quarter of the year, boosted by the stay-at-home work environment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and online holiday shopping. However, the social media giant also warned its business faces some uncertainty in the form of regulatory investigations and changes to Apple’s operating system that may impact its ad business.

Meanwhile, American Airlines Group shares took off Thursday after the airline reported a narrower quarterly loss than had been anticipated. The stock has been floated as the next possible short-squeeze candidate, following the likes of GameStop Corp.

The videogame retailer was pointing to further gains at the open after shares soared 1,642% from Jan. 12 through Wednesday as short-sellers scrambled to close their losing bets.

Shares of other companies that have seen their shares squeeze higher, including BlackBerry Ltd., Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. and AMC Entertainment, were not seeing the same strength early Wednesday.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 6 cents to $52.79 per barrel and gold slipped $7.70 to $1,837.20 an ounce.

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European markets were trading lower with France’s CAC 40 down 0.06% Germany’s DAX 30 weaker by 0.83% and Britain’s FTSE 100 down 1.12%.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.53%, China’s Shanghai Composite lost 1.91% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng 225 declined by 2.25%.

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