5 Essential Insights to Prepare You for Today’s Stock Market Opening

Stock futures are dipping as investors sort through a wave of earnings reports from big companies. The major stock indexes had a strong day yesterday, but some gains slipped away. This follows comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who warned that more interest rate cuts are not guaranteed.

### What’s Happening with Stock Futures?

Right now, futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average are down about 0.4%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures have dropped around 0.2%. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes has risen to 4.10%, affecting consumer and business loan costs. Bitcoin has also seen a dip, now sitting below $110,000, and gold futures have slipped slightly, trading at about $3,985 an ounce.

### U.S.-China Trade Developments

In a recent meeting, President Trump shared that agreements were made with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. They reached a deal concerning rare earth minerals, crucial for tech production. Trump also mentioned a reduction in tariffs on fentanyl-related products. This drop takes overall U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods down to 47%. Such steps could signal a positive turn in trade relations, with Trump announcing plans to visit China in April.

### Earnings Reports: Google Soars, Meta and Microsoft Stumble

Today, shares of Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta (META) are struggling in pre-market trading after their earnings reports. In contrast, Alphabet (GOOG) is having a great day, reporting over $100 billion in quarterly sales for the first time. Microsoft saw an 18% year-over-year revenue increase, mainly driven by cloud sales, but investors are worried about their spending plan, which led to a decline in share price. Meta’s hefty tax charge caused its stock to drop despite solid revenue growth.

### What to Watch: Apple and Amazon Earnings

Keep an eye out today for earnings reports from Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN). Apple recently hit a market cap above $4 trillion and is seeing strong sales of the iPhone 17. However, there are concerns about their progress in AI products. Amazon has not performed as well among the big tech companies this year, and traders anticipate a big price movement following its earnings release today.

### Eli Lilly’s Strong Performance

Eli Lilly (LLY) is in the spotlight for its impressive earnings. The company reported a 54% revenue jump for the third quarter, largely driven by its popular weight loss drug Zepbound and diabetes treatment Mounjaro. Mounjaro’s sales doubled to $6.52 billion, and Zepbound’s U.S. sales nearly tripled to $3.57 billion. This growth pushed Eli Lilly shares up by about 4% pre-market.

As companies report their earnings and trade discussions continue, the stock market is in a delicate balancing act. Investors are watching closely for clues about future economic conditions and corporate performance.



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