Gold prices hold sharp gains as soft US jobs data fuels Fed rate cut bets
(Corrects typo in second graph)
* Futures up: Dow 0.13%, S&P 0.03%, Nasdaq 0.12%
By Medha Singh
July 19 (Reuters) - U.S. stock futures inched higher on
Friday as strong results for Microsoft's cloud business fed into
a bullish mood following signs from New York Fed President John
Williams that the U.S. central bank was set to cut interest
rates this month.
Microsoft Corp MSFT.O , now America's most valuable
company, gained 3.5% premarket, after it topped analysts'
estimates at the end of a week of mixed corporate results in the
United States and Europe. Williams' comments that the Fed cannot wait for economic
disaster to unfold on Thursday afternoon were behind the
previous session's positive close and they helped drive a raft
of market moves on Friday. Traders raised bets for a larger, half-percentage point cut
in rates at the July 30-31 policy meeting to 46%, from a 23%
chance a week ago, according to CME Group's FedWatch program.
At 6:54 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 36 points, or
0.13%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 1 point, or 0.03% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 9.5 points, or 0.12%.
The main indexes have eased off all-time highs hit at the
start of this week as some of the first batches of second
quarter earnings releases pointed to a slowdown in growth under
the shadow of U.S.-China trade talks.
Boeing Co BA.N rose 1.7% after disclosing it would take a
$4.9 billion after-tax hit in the second quarter on estimated
disruptions from the grounding of its 737 MAX passenger jets.
Morgan Stanley analyst Rajeev Lalwani said that was a sign
that investors were comfortable with the size of the charge and
Boeing's production plans ahead of its results next week.
Shares of the world's largest oilfield services provider
Schlumberger NV SLB.N also rose 1% as it announced
better-than-expected revenue numbers and named company insider
Olivier Le Peuch as new Chief Executive Officer. American Express Co AXP.N had gained 1.2% ahead of its own
results release.