US STOCKS-Futures edge higher as focus shifts from Fed to earnings

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* Futures up: Dow 0.17%, S&P 500 0.12%, Nasdaq 0.19%

By Shreyashi Sanyal
Aug 1 (Reuters) - U.S. stock futures bounced on Thursday, a
day after the S&P 500 and Dow saw their worst day since May, as
focus shifted from the Federal Reserve's cautious stance on
further interest rate cuts to corporate earnings, which have
been robust.
The U.S. central bank reduced borrowing costs by a
widely-expected quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday, but
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell signaled a series of further cuts was
unlikely, leading to a sharp selloff. Despite that, all three major indexes posted their second
straight monthly gains in July, closing the book on a month in
which the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq reached fresh record highs.
"It was always going to be a tough job for the Fed to be as
dovish as stock markets hoped. The 25 bps cut was a non-event,"
said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, in a note.
"With the Fed out of the way there is a chance that we can
all get back to focusing on earnings and how earnings season
continues to paint a broadly positive picture."
Almost three weeks through earnings, reports so far have
been strong. Of the 296 companies in the S&P 500 that have
reported second-quarter earnings, 74.7% have beaten Street
estimates for profit, according to Refinitiv data.
Shares of Verizon Communications Inc VZ.N rose 1.3% in
premarket trading after wireless carrier beat second-quarter
consensus estimates for additions of net new phone subscribers
who pay a monthly bill. At 7:20 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 46 points, or
0.17%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 3.5 points, or 0.12% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 15.25 points, or 0.19%.
Qualcomm Inc QCOM.O plunged 6.8% after the chipmaker's
quarterly revenue and profit forecast fell short of Wall Street
targets, hurt by Huawei Technologies Co Ltd's HWT.UL strong
gains in the Chinese smartphone market. Fitbit Inc FIT.N tumbled 17.4% after the wearable device
maker cut its 2019 revenue forecast blaming disappointing sales
of its newly launched cheapest smartwatch Versa Lite.
On the macro front, the Institute for Supply Management's
index of national factory activity, due at 10 a.m. EDT, will
likely show a reading of 52.0 in July from 51.7 in June.
This will follow IHS Markit Manufacturing Purchasing
Managers' Indexes final reading for the month July, due 9:45
a.m. EDT.
Factory activity contracted across Asia and Europe in July,
fuelling worries a prolonged U.S.-China trade war and an
economic slowdown could tilt the world towards recession, which
central banks would have to fight with depleted ammunition.