Dow futures rise after Boeing's profit forecast; S&P and Nasdaq futures under pressure

Dow futures rose on Wednesday after Boeing raised its profit forecast, easing worries of slowing corporate profits, but dim outlook from other China-reliant companies, including chipmakers, kept the pressure on the S&P and Nasdaq futures.

Shares of Boeing, the single largest U.S. exporter to China, rose 4.3 per cent in premarket trading after the planemaker topped analysts' forecast for quarterly profit and raised its full-year expectation.

Northrop Grumman rose 2.6 per cent after the U.S. weapons maker raised its annual profit outlook.

The reports were in sharp contrast to those from industrial giants Caterpillar and 3M, whose disappointing forecasts on Tuesday sent U.S. stock markets into a tailspin.

"Boeing is one of the larger weights in the Dow, so you've got some good news now that could allow the markets to start to trade higher," said Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago.

"A global slowdown is actually an issue at this point, and part of it translates into slow earnings and earnings growth and ultimately that means lower stock prices."

While earnings from S&P 500 companies are expected to have increased by about 22 per cent in the third quarter, 2018 is seen as a peak for the profit cycle, according to Refinitiv data.

Boeing's report is one among a slew of earnings this week to shine a spotlight on the risk of a slowdown in China, the world's No. 2 economy, spilling beyond its borders and eating into U.S. corporate profits.

The other group is chipmakers, struggling with oversupply and the threat of weakening demand for automobiles in China as well as further U.S. tariffs on Chinese products with chips.

Those challenges were highlighted by Texas Instruments, which fell 6.2 per cent after a disappointing current-quarter forecast, and STMicroelectronics , which dropped 10.9 per cent after signalling a slowing demand in China.

At 8:52 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 31 points, or 0.12 per cent. S&P 500 e-minis were down 4 points, or 0.15 per cent and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 4 points, or 0.06 per cent.

Ford, Microsoft and AMD are due to report after the markets close, while Amazon, Alphabet and Intel will report on Thursday – marquee earnings that could influence sentiment on Wall Street.

AT&T fell 3.5 per cent after U.S. wireless carrier's quarterly profit missed analysts' estimates.

On the macro front, economic data at 10 a.m. ET is expected to show that new home sales for September is expected to come in at 625,000 units compared with 629,000 units in August.

The Federal Reserve's Beige Book, a summary of the state of U.S. business across the central bank's 12 regional districts for August, is expected at 2 p.m. ET (1800 GMT).