US stock futures rose Thursday morning as investors digested a fresh batch of megacap earnings alongside the Federal Reserve’s latest policy decision.
S&P 500 futures (ES=F) climbed 0.2% , while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) held around the flatline. Contracts tied to the Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) rose 0.4%. The moves came after the major indexes held steady during Wednesday’s session.
After the closing bell, earnings reactions drove sharp moves across megacap tech names.
Meta (META) surged as much as 10% in extended trading after issuing a first-quarter revenue outlook that topped Wall Street estimates, even as it said its AI ambitions would fuel spending to as much as $135 billion this year. Tesla (TSLA) gained around 2% after reporting quarterly results that exceeded expectations.
But Microsoft (MSFT) slid nearly 7% as investors reacted to slower cloud growth during its fiscal second quarter and higher-than-anticipated capital spending and finance lease costs. Amazon (AMZN) fell in tandem in after-hours action.
Meanwhile, investors are still digesting the Fed’s first interest rate decision for 2026, in which the central bank held rates at the current rate. The central bank noted that the labor market is showing signs of stabilization, and Chair Jerome Powell suggested the Fed was ready to make decisions on a meeting-by-meeting basis. Still, futures markets are still pricing in two quarter-point rate cuts by the end of 2026, according to CME FedWatch.
Looking ahead, investors are gearing up for Apple’s (AAPL) fiscal first-quarter earnings, due after Thursday’s closing bell. Mastercard (MA), American Express, (AXP) and Verizon (VZ) are also scheduled to report results this week. On the data front, markets will be watching weekly jobless claims, durable goods orders, and wholesale inventory figures for further clues on the health of the economy.
