Crispr Therapeutics shares tumble after significant earnings miss
* Microsoft rises after solid growth in cloud business
* Schlumberger rises on revenue beat, CEO change
* Kansas City Southern gains on profit beat
* American Express falls as expenses rise
* Futures up: Dow 0.27%, S&P 0.16%, Nasdaq 0.23%
(Adds comment, details; Updates prices)
By Medha Singh
July 19 (Reuters) - Wall Street was set to open higher on
Friday as solid results from Microsoft 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 , America's most valuable company,
gained 2.7% premarket, after strength in its cloud business
helped it beat analysts' estimates at the end of a week of mixed
corporate results. Shares of the world's largest oilfield services provider
Schlumberger NV SLB.N rose 1% as it beat quarterly revenue
estimates and named insider Olivier Le Peuch as its new chief
executive officer. "Some optimism is being carried forward from New York Fed
President John Williams' comments and largely
better-than-expected corporate earnings so far, highlighted by
Microsoft," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National
Securities in New York.
Profit for S&P 500 companies is now expected to rise 0.6% in
the second quarter, according to Refinitiv IBES data, in a
reversal from earlier estimates of a drop.
Williams' remarks that the Fed cannot wait for economic
disaster to unfold and must add stimulus early were behind
Thursday's positive close. Traders raised bets for a larger, half-percentage point cut
in rates at the July 30-31 policy meeting to 41%, from a 23%
chance a week ago, according to CME Group's FedWatch program.
At 8:41 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 73 points, or
0.27%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 4.75 points, or 0.16%,
and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 18.5 points, or 0.23%.
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 disclosed it would take a $4.9 billion
after-tax hit due to estimated disruptions from the grounding of
its 737 MAX, but shares gained 2.1% indicating that investors
had feared worst. Kansas City Southern KSU.N rose about 2% after the
railroad posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit. Credit
card issuer American Express Co's AXP.N beat profit estimates
but shares slipped about 1% as expenses jumped.