US STOCKS-Wall St futures climb as investors balance earnings optimism against oil woes

Caterpillar

30/04/2026 12:33

Futures up: Dow up 0.59%, S&P 500 and Nasdaq up 0.14% each

Alphabet, Amazon rise after strong results

Meta, Microsoft fall on capex concerns

Eli Lilly gains after lifting forecast

Updates prices and details

By Niket Nishant and Utkarsh    Hathi

April 30 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Thursday, recovering from an earlier bout of caution as investors weighed strong earnings against renewed inflation worries sparked by elevated oil prices.

The volatility reflects a market caught between competing narratives, as investors are torn between strong earnings and fears of escalation in the Middle East war.

Tech earnings were largely strong, with shares of Google parent Alphabet GOOGL.O rising 6.3% in premarket trading following a record quarter for its cloud unit, while Amazon AMZN.O added 2.5% after exceeding cloud sales expectations.

However, Meta Platforms META.O and Microsoft MSFT.O fell 8.6% and 1.9%, respectively, a day after they laid out their capital spending plans.

At 6:55 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis YMcv1 rose 287 points, or 0.59%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were up 10 points, or 0.14%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 37 points, or 0.14%.

Investors were also assessing commentary from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday. The central bank voted to keep interest rates unchanged, but three officials signaled that inflation was too high to signal a bias toward rate cuts.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 hit their highest in nearly four years on fears of a protracted disruption in oil markets, after an Axios report said President Donald Trump was slated to receive a briefing from the leader of the U.S. Central Command on new plans for potential military action against Iran.

Prices retreated later but remain elevated, above $110 a barrel.

The Axios report undermined weeks of optimism that diplomatic efforts to resolve the U.S.-Iran war would stay on track despite setbacks.

"The oil market has moved from over-optimism to the reality of the supply disruption. The breakdown of talks between the U.S. and Iran... has the market losing hope for any quick resumption in oil flows," said Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING Economics.

Among other stocks, Eli Lilly LLY.N gained 3.1% after the drugmaker lifted its annual profit forecast on sustained weight-loss drug demand, and peer Merck MRK.N added 5.8% following higher first-quarter sales.

Caterpillar CAT.N shares rose 6% after the construction and mining equipment maker reported higher first-quarter profit.

Market sentiment will also hinge on the upcoming first-quarter GDP report and the Personal Consumption Expenditures data, scheduled to be released on Thursday.

 (Reporting by Niket Nishant and Utkarsh Hathi in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Shinjini Ganguli)

 ((Niket.Nishant@thomsonreuters.com;))