Stock futures stumble as Boeing posts record loss - Fox Business

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Mainstay Capital Management CEO David Kudla on GameStop shares and the high demand for tech company stocks.

U.S. stock futures were under pressure Wednesday morning as investors digested an onslaught of earnings reports ahead of the Federal Reserve's first interest rate decision of the year.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were trading lower by 358 points, or 1.16%, while S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures were down 1.25% and 0.85%, respectively.

Looking at stocks, Dow component Microsoft Corp.'s quarterly profit rose more than 30% year over year as the COVID-19 pandemic drove demand for its cloud-based products and video games. Both earnings and revenue were ahead of Wall Street estimates.

Elsewhere in the Dow, Boeing Co. lost a record $11.9 billion in 2020 as the company’s bottom line suffered due to the pandemic and the grounding of the 737 Max jet. The planemaker said the debut of its 777X jet would be delayed again until late 2023.

Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and Tesla Inc. are among the companies set to report their quarterly results following the closing bell.

In deals, Allstate Corp. reached a deal to sell its life insurance unit to private equity firm Blackstone for $2.8 billion.

Meanwhile, the short-squeeze that has boosted GameStop Corp. shares by 642% since Jan. 12 persisted on Wednesday with shares more than doubling early in the session. Hedge fund Melvin Capital, which received a $2.75 billion infusion from other funds, covered its losing position on Tuesday afternoon, fund manager Gabe Plotkin told CNBC.

Shares of BlackBerry Ltd. and Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., two other companies also seeing short-squeezes, remain in focus.

The Federal Reserve will on Wednesday afternoon is expected to keep policy on hold following its first meeting during the Biden administration. Traders will be parsing the Fed’s statement for clues to how the central bank could alter its asset-purchase program in the months ahead.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate crude oil slipped 1 cent to $52.60 per barrel and gold fell $14.10 to $1,836.80 an ounce.

European markets were trading sharply lower across the board with Germany’s DAX 30 pacing the decline, down 1.84%, while France’s CAC 40 and Britain’s FTSE 100 were weaker by 1.27% and 1.08%, respectively.

In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slid 0.32%, China’s Shanghai Composite edged up 0.11% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.31%.

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