US stock futures gain amid Apple, Intel earnings

by Margaryta Kirakosian and Chiranjivi Chakraborty

US stock futures gained after strong earnings from Apple Inc. and Intel Corp. buoyed sentiment at the end of a volatile week for tech stocks, while traders braced for President Donald Trump’s announcement on tariffs at the weekend.

Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.7% and contracts on the S&P 500 gained 0.4% after Apple and Intel rose in late trading. The Stoxx 600 Europe Index climbed 0.4%, set for its sixth week of gains. 

The dollar ticked higher, set for its best week in seven, with Trump poised to unleash his first wave of tariffs on Canada and Mexico on Saturday. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. warned commodity markets are pricing in elevated odds that crucial raw materials like crude oil will be included in sanctions against Canadian imports. 

Treasuries fell on bets the potential levvies could spur inflation and keep interest rates high, while implied volatility for the Canadian dollar and Mexican peso suggested wild swings ahead. Crude jumped 1% before paring the moves. 

“It is possible that Trump goes ahead with the 25% announcement for Mexico and Canada, which would be market negative,” said Mohit Kumar, chief economist at Jefferies International Limited. “However, we still view tariffs as a negotiating tool.”

With the threat of tariffs very much alive, investors will be watching the latest core price index data from the US, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, which is expected to show a 0.17% increase for December. 

Big tech earnings were front and center and the reports proved resilient enough to shake off concern about rising competition after Chinese startup DeepSeek shook up markets with its cheaper AI model. The 26 Nasdaq-100 members to report this season delivered an almost 6% surprise on earnings, which is above the previous two seasons’ much thinner results.

Separately, Japanese government bond futures dropped and the yen reversed early gains as Bank of Japan’s Governor Kazuo Ueda said that the underlying inflation trend remains below 2%. More hikes will take place if the central bank’s economic outlook is realized. 

Key events this week:

• US personal income & spending, PCE inflation, employment cost index, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.4% as of 8:36 a.m. London time
• S&P 500 futures rose 0.4%
• Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.7%
• Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2%
• The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was little changed
• The MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell 0.3%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%
• The euro was little changed at $1.0387
• The Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 154.68 per dollar
• The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.2971 per dollar
• The British pound was unchanged at $1.2419

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin fell 0.9% to $104,114.03
• Ether fell 0.2% to $3,238.34

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 4.54%
• Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.52%
• Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 4.56%

Commodities

• Brent crude rose 0.2% to $77.01 a barrel
• Spot gold was little changed

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.