Dow Jones futures rose slightly early Friday morning, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures. The stock market rally made strong gains Thursday, continuing rebounds from Wednesday’s lows. But volume was light.
Applied Materials (AMAT) headlined earnings reports late Thursday, with potentially big implications for fellow chip-equipment makers, the broader semiconductor sector and even the Nasdaq itself. Many chip stocks, including ASML (ASML), Lam Research (LRCX), Brooks Automation (BRKS), Nvidia (NVDA) as well as AMAT stock flashed some bullish signals during the regular session.
Tech titans Facebook (FB) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) remain among the more-attractive tech stocks. Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT) also had nice gains Thursday, bolstering the major indexes, but haven’t shown as much leadership. The same goes for Tesla (TSLA), which remains below moving averages.
While tech stocks thrived, mining, metals, financials largely sat out Thursday’s rally after tumbling Wednesday.
Applied Materials earnings topped forecasts after the close, while also providing upside guidance. AMAT stock were little changed overnight. Shares rallied 4.4% to 130.31 on Thursday, retaking its 50-day line after Wednesday’s upside reversal. AMAT stock closed essentially right on its downward-sloping trend line. A solid post-earnings gain Friday could offer a buying opportunity.
