5 big analyst AI moves: Nvidia guidance warning; Snowflake, Palo Alto upgraded
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* Futures: Dow flat, S&P up 0.07%, Nasdaq up 0.11%
By Medha Singh
Oct 21 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures ticked higher on
Wednesday as investors held out for a bipartisan agreement over
the next coronavirus aid package to support a fragile economy
recovery.
The White House and Democrats in the U.S. Congress made
progress in talks over the relief deal on Tuesday although a
timeline of when the bill could be passed was not clear.
The Trump administration has proposed $1.8 trillion in aid,
while Democrats are pushing for $2.2 trillion.
Wall Street's fear gauge .VIX hit a one-month high as the
U.S. election campaign entered its final stretch. Democratic
challenger Joe Biden and President Donald Trump will face off in
their second and final debate on Thursday night. The race is closer in the battleground states that are
likely to decide the winner of the Nov. 3 election,
Reuters/Ipsos polling showed, while national polls put Biden
well ahead of Trump.
At 6:13 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were down 6 points, or
0.02%, S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 2.25 points, or 0.07%,
and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 12.75 points, or 0.11%.
Netflix Inc NFLX.O kicked off earnings from the Big Tech
club, and was down 5.2% premarket after it missed expectations
for subscriber growth as streaming competition increased and
live sports returned to television. On the other hand, Snap Inc SNAP.N surged 24.4% after the
Snapchat messaging app owner beat user growth and revenue
forecasts, as more people signed up to chat with friends and
family during the COVID-19 pandemic. Shares of other social media companies Facebook Inc FB.O
and Twitter Inc TWTR.N rose 2.6% and 5.7%, while image sharing
company Pinterest Inc PINS.N gained 6.7%.
Of the 66 S&P 500 firms that have reported third-quarter
results, 86.4% have topped expectations for earnings, according
to IBES Refinitiv data.