US stock futures rebound after recent losses; Netflix in focus By Investing.com

Investing.com– U.S. stock index futures edged higher Thursday following another negative session on Wall Street, ahead of earnings from streaming giant Netflix. 

At 06:45 ET (10:45 GMT),  rose 95 points, or 0.3%, climbed 14 points, or 0.3%, while rose 70 points, or 0.4%.

Wall Street indexes fell for a fourth consecutive session on Wednesday, hit by steep losses in chipmaking stocks following weaker-than-expected earnings from Dutch semiconductor technology giant ASML (AS:).

Market darling NVIDIA  (NASDAQ:) slid nearly 4% during the session, while smaller peer Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:) lost 5.8%

Broader markets were pressured by a spike in Treasury yields, following signs of sticky U.S. inflation and hawkish signals from the Federal Reserve. 

Netflix earnings due after the close

There are more earnings to focus on Thursday, with TSMC (NYSE:), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, impressing with its jump in first-quarter profit earlier Thursday, benefiting from the unquenching demand for all things AI.

Video streaming giant Netflix (NASDAQ:) is set to report first-quarter earnings after the close Thursday, while numbers from the likes of asset manager Blackstone (NYSE:), Alaska Air (NYSE:) and lender KeyCorp (NYSE:) are also due. 

Among major premarket movers, aluminum producer Alcoa (NYSE:) rose nearly 3% after its earnings topped estimates, and it flagged steady production in 2024.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:) rose almost 2% following reports that the memory chip maker was set to receive over $6 billion in government grants, while credit reporting agency Equifax (NYSE:) plummeted nearly 10% after posting weaker-than-expected guidance. 

Casino operator Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:) fell 3% despite beating profit expectations, as underperformance at its Macau operations remained a point of concern. 

Jobless claims data in spotlight

The day’s main economic data release will be the weekly  data, while the  report for March is also out.

Investors will be looking for further clues about the strength of the U.S. economy amid growth concerns that the Federal Reserve will delay interest rate cuts until the second half of the year.

Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President said on Wednesday she expects price pressures to ease further this year, allowing the Fed to reduce borrowing costs, but only when it is “pretty confident” inflation is heading sustainably to its 2% goal.

Her colleague, , the president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, said at the start of the week that there is “no urgency” to cut U.S. interest rates, with the economy and labor market strong, and inflation still above the Fed’s target of 2%.

Crude weakens once more

Crude prices weakened Thursday adding to the previous session’s sharp loss, even after the Biden administration reimposed sanctions on Venezuela’s crude exports after President Nicolas Maduro failed to meet initial promises to hold national elections.

By 06:45 ET, the U.S. crude futures traded 1.1% lower at $81.78 a barrel, while the Brent contract dropped 1.1% to $86.33 per barrel.

The news that the U.S. government has decided to reimpose oil sanctions on Venezuela has provided an element of support, along with the elevated geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. 

However, bets on tighter markets were offset by data showing record-high U.S. production and a substantial build in inventories. 

(Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)