U.S. stock index futures fell on Thursday as investors were concerned about the latest batch of quarterly corporate reports.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials flopped 36 points, or 0.1%, to 27,195.
Futures for the S&P 500 gave up 1.75 points, or 0.1%, at 2,983.25
NASDAQ futures slid 11.75 points, or 0.2%, to 7,873.75
Netflix shares plunged more than 10% in the premarket after the streaming giant reported a surprise loss in U.S. subscriberscoupled with slower-than-expected international membership growth. Those metrics — which are key for Netflix — offset a better-than-expected earnings per share result for the previous quarter.
IBM shares, meanwhile, declined 0.8% after the company reported its fourth consecutive revenue decline. Declining sales from IBM’s IT division offset growth in its cloud business.
So far, more than 12% of S&P 500 companies have reported quarterly results this earnings season. Of those companies, nearly 84% have reported better-than-expected earnings.
The major indexes closed lower for a second day in a row on Wednesday after The Wall Street Journal reported that trade negotiations between the U.S. and China had faltered over restrictions on Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.
However, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters that Huawei was not a sticking point in the negotiations, adding a call between U.S. and China trade officials was scheduled for later on Thursday.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 index faltered 2%, while in the Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index fell 0.5%,
Oil prices added 23 cents to $57.01 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices sifted off $1.80 to $1,405.70 U.S. an ounce.
