Nasdaq Futures Up 130 Pts; Apple, Facebook Propel Gains

Nasdaq Futures Up 130 Pts; Apple, Facebook Propel Gains

© Reuters.

By Peter Nurse   

Investing.com - U.S. stocks are seen opening higher Thursday, with the tech-heavy set to outperform on the back of a dovish Federal Reserve and positive earnings reports from Apple (NASDAQ:) and Facebook (NASDAQ:).

At 7:05 AM ET (1205 GMT), the contract was up 155 points, or 0.5%, traded 28 points, or 0.7%, higher, and climbed 130 points, or 1%.

Apple delivered a blowout first quarter late Wednesday, sending its stock up 2.7% premarket, with sales jumping 54% fueled by 5G iPhone upgrades and the company adding that it would increase its existing share buyback program by $90 billion.  

Facebook also beat Wall Street expectations for both quarterly revenue and profit on Wednesday, prompting gains of over 7% premarket, helped by a surge in digital ad spending during the pandemic when consumers shopped online, along with higher ad prices.

Thursday will be the busiest day of the earnings season, with roughly 11% of the scheduled to provide quarterly updates. Caterpillar (NYSE:), McDonald's (NYSE:), Comcast (NASDAQ:) and Merck are among the names on deck before the market opens, with Amazon (NASDAQ:) the star after the market closes.

The cruise