Pre-Market Futures Flat at This Hour

Pre-market futures are flattish at this hour, but with a downward bias. The Dow is coming off a record closing high Tuesday, and Q3 earnings reports released yesterday afternoon did not quite have the positive sheen we’ve seen elsewhere this far into earnings season. The Dow is currently down -9 points, the S&P 500 is +3, the Nasdaq -38 and the small-cap Russell 2000 is -9 points at this hour.

Fed Governor Michael Barr will make a couple of appearances later today — one week ahead of the next monetary policy decision from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). Thus, we’re also closing in on the “blackout period,” where Fed members keep mum on their opinions about the state of the economy. Nearly 100% of analysts believe another 25 basis-point (bps) rate cut is in the cards for next Wednesday, which would take the Fed funds rate down to 3.75-4.00%.

Q3 Earnings Ahead of the Bell: T, TMO, GEV & More

AT&T T reported Q3 earnings ahead of today’s open, missing on its bottom line by a penny to 54 cents per share. Revenues in the quarter were similarly short, -0.81% from estimates to $30.71 billion. Shares are down -1.6% at this hour on the news; the stock is still up +13% year to date — basically in-line with the S&P 500.

Medical equipment major Thermo Fisher TMO posted beats on both top and bottom lines for its Q3 report this morning, with earnings of $5.79 per share well ahead of the $5.50 in the Zacks consensus. This amounts to a positive earning surprise of +5.27%. Revenues topped expectations by +2% to $11.12 billion in the quarter. Shares are up +2% on the news this morning, but still underperforming the S&P year to date.

A day after GE Aerospace GE strongly outperformed estimates, its energy-oriented spinoff GE Vernova GEV came out with a mixed picture in Q3: earnings of $1.64 per share missed the Zacks consensus $1.78 by -7.87% (though much higher than the 35 cents per share reported a year ago), on revenues of $9.97 billion — +8.62% higher than anticipated. Shares are up another +3.8% on the news, adding to the boffo +78% growth year to date.

Canadian metals company Teck Resources TECK had perhaps the strongest Q3 earnings report of the morning, with earnings of 55 cents per share surpassing the 39 cents projected by +41%, on revenues of $2.46 billion which surged past the Zacks consensus by +14.3%. This is perhaps a less familiar stock to track, but with rare earth negotiations with China remaining a sticking point, Teck may find itself with a higher level of relevancy.

What to Expect from Today’s Stock Market

Big Q3 earnings reports are expected after the closing bell today, including Tesla TSLA, which is expected to fetch negative earnings per share to the tune of -26.4% year over year, but +5% on revenues. Shares have rebounded somewhat from their much-maligned levels in early April, which was right around the time CEO Elon Musk was seeing his White House tenure coming to an end. Shares are +9.6% year to date, but flat ahead of today’s open.

We’ll also get IBM IBM earnings after today’s close, with the international tech giant looking to add to its +28% gains since the start of the year. Earnings are expected to come in +6% higher, with +7.57% on the revenues side for the quarter. Also, Southwest Airlines LUV fights a tough year-over-year comp, staring down -93% earnings growth in the quarter on +1.44% expected in revenues.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research