Futures dip as Amazon warns of slowdown in cloud segment

Get ready for a rollercoaster ride in the stock market! U.S. stock index futures dipped on Friday as Amazon’s warning about a slowdown in its cloud business and downbeat forecasts from Snap and Pinterest dented Wall Street sentiment after a rally in the previous session.

Amazon.com Inc shares slipped 1.1% in premarket trading as the company signaled its cloud growth would slow further, overshadowing its better-than-expected quarterly results.

Snapchat-owner Snap Inc tumbled 18.9% as it warned next quarter results could miss Wall Street targets, while Pinterest Inc dropped 13.4% after the image-sharing platform forecast second-quarter revenue growth below analysts’ estimates as advertising spending declines.

The weak updates followed stronger-than-expected earnings from big technology and growth companies this week including Alphabet Inc, Microsoft Corp and Meta Platforms Inc which led analysts to improve first-quarter profit estimates for S&P 500 companies.

The main U.S. indexes ended up sharply on Thursday, with the benchmark S&P 500 logging its biggest one-day percentage gain since early January.

What’s Next?

• Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp, Colgate-Palmolive Co as well as Charter Communications Inc are among the companies set to report results before the opening bell.
• Personal consumption expenditure index reading, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, for March is due at 8:30 a.m. ET (1230 GMT).
• The Fed will publish at 11 a.m. ET (1500 GMT) its internal review of its supervision of Silicon Valley Bank, whose failure set off a broader loss of investor confidence in the banking sector.

Data on Thursday showed U.S. economic growth slowed more than expected in the first quarter, while plunging consumer confidence in April heightened the risk that the economy could fall into recession this year.

Still, the Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points at its May 2-3 meeting, potentially the last hike in the U.S. central bank’s fastest monetary policy tightening cycle since the 1980s.

At 06:08 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 105 points, or 0.31%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 16 points, or 0.39%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 48.75 points, or 0.37%.

Chipmaker Intel Corp gained 4.0% after the it said gross margins will improve in the second half of the year.

First Republic Bank rose 9.7% as U.S. officials are coordinating urgent talks to rescue the beleaguered lender, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Cloudflare Inc tumbled 23.9% on the cloud services provider’s downbeat revenue forecast.

• Citizens were left in Afghanistan after the botched pullout, and now thousands are stranded seeking shelter in Sudan
• The US still hasn’t escaped a recession. Also, the party that can’t define “women” wants to protect them, while Biden fumbles questions from children.
• He left Americans behind in Afghanistan and he is doing it again in Sudan
• The first conservative AI Chatbot is released, it is called Gipper
• Senator Michael Bennet introduced a bill on Thursday that would create a task force to look at U.S. policies…
• Taiwan’s top chip design company MediaTek is focusing more resources on chips for cars and AI…
• Sony Group Corp on Friday said PlayStation 5 sales will jump by six million units this business year, but…
• China is pushing automated technology to improve the safety and efficiency of its coal mining…