U.S. stock index futures rose on Wednesday, setting Wall Street for a second straight day of gains at the end of a brutal month, with Facebook’s quarterly report helping boost high-growth internet names.
Shares of Facebook Inc climbed 5 percent in premarket trading after the social media giant eased investor concerns by forecasting that margins would stop shrinking after 2019 as costs from scandals ease up.
While Facebook reported a second-straight quarter of record-low user growth, confirming investors’ fears of a slowing growth, analysts said the results were not as bad as feared.
That brought some relief to the so-called FANG group. Amazon.com Inc rose 1.7 percent, Netflix Inc climbed 2.2 percent and Google-parent Alphabet Inc gained 1.5 percent.
The FANG group and Apple Inc have led the slide on Wall Street this month, which has left the S&P 500 and Dow Industrials with barely any gains for the year, fanned by concerns over trade, higher borrowing and wage costs, fears of corporate earnings peaking and a host of geopolitical worries.
The S&P has not posted gains for two sessions in a row so far in October, during which the index has tumbled nearly 8 percent, on pace for its biggest monthly drop in more than eight years.
However, the U.S. economy has been growing at a healthy clip. The ADP national employment report at 8:15 a.m. ET (1215 GMT) is expected to show private payrolls rose by 189,000 this month, following a rise of 230,000 jobs in September. That comes ahead of the more comprehensive non-farm payrolls report on Friday.
At 7:31 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMc1 were up 161 points, or 0.65 percent. S&P 500 e-minis ESc1 were up 19 points, or 0.71 percent and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQc1 were up 72 points, or 1.06 percent.
EBay Inc (EBAY.O) rose 6.1 percent after the company topped profit expectations, helped by cost cutting efforts.
Electronic Arts Inc (EA.O) dropped 4.6 percent after the video-game publisher’s revenue forecast missed estimates due to the delayed launch of its popular “Battlefield V” game.
