Intel reports surprise profit; ExxonMobil, Chevron ahead - what's moving markets
Investing.com — U.S. stock futures climb after the Dow snaps its nearly two-week win streak. Elsewhere, U.S. chipmaker Intel returns to a profit in the second quarter as an inventory glut eases, while investors also await earnings from big-name brands like ExxonMobil and Procter & Gamble.
1. Futures point higher
U.S. stock futures edged higher on Friday as investors looked ahead to the release of the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge and awaited a fresh round of corporate results.
At 05:25 ET (09:25 GMT), the Dow futures contract rose by 48 points or 0.13%, S&P futures added 14 points or 0.31%, and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed by 93 points or 0.60%. All the major indices closed in the red on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, in particular, ending a 13-day winning streak.
The June reading of the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index, a measure of inflation that is closely watched by Fed policymakers, is due out later in the session. Economists predict that the so-called core figure, which removes more volatile items like food and energy, slowed to 0.2% month-on-month and 4.2% annually.
Corralling inflation has been a central focus of the Fed's recent campaign of interest rate hikes. The central bank resumed the tightening earlier this week, lifting borrowing costs by a further 25 basis points, and signaled that future rate decisions would likely be dependent on the evolution of economic data like core PCE.
On the earnings front, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) shares jumped in premarket trading after the U.S. semiconductor group said a decline in sales of its key personal computer chips in the second quarter was not as steep as analysts had anticipated (see below).
2. Intel PC chip sales improve
Intel
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