US Stocks- Futures climb on easing rate hike bets, Meta plunges on dismal outlook

US Stocks: Futures climb on easing rate hike bets, Meta plunges on dismal outlook

U.S. stock index futures edged up on Thursday on growing hopes that the Federal Reserve may slow the pace of its interest rate hikes to tame inflation, while shares of Meta Platforms plunged following a bleak forecast.

Facebook-parent Meta posted a drop in third-quarter profit and forecast a weak holiday quarter with significantly higher costs next year, sending its shares down 19.7% in premarket trade and wiping about $67 billion off its market value.

Also Read: Equities do well after U.S. Midterms but don’t expect the same this time due to recession: BlackRock

The Bank of Canada announced a smaller-than-expected rate hike on Wednesday, with investor focus on a decision from the European Central Bank later in the day.

Results from Amazon.com Inc and Apple Inc are expected later in the day, as well as U.S. gross domestic product data for the third quarter which will offer further clues on the outlook for monetary policy tightening.

The Commerce Department’s report due at 8:30 a.m. ET is expected to show GDP growth likely rebounded at a 2.4% annualized rate last quarter after two straight quarterly declines.

At 4:56 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 160 points, or 0.5%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 12.25 points, or 0.32%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 1.75 points, or 0.02%.

Twitter Inc rose 1.1% premarket, a day after billionaire Elon Musk said he paid a visit to the social media company’s headquarters ahead of a court-ordered deadline to close his $44 billion takeover deal.

Ford Motor Co fell 1.3% after the automaker reported a net loss in the third quarter.