US pre-open: Futures point to flat open following Netflix earnings

Wall Street futures were pointing to a broadly flat open ahead of the bell on Wednesday after the S&P 500 recorded its fifth straight winning session.

As of 1225 BST, Dow Jones futures were down 0.01%, while S&P 500 futures were flat and Nasdaq-100 futures had the index opening 0.06% higher.

The Dow closed 198.70 points higher on Tuesday as the release of some solid Q3 earnings from a number of big-name US firms gave sentiment a boost.

In focus ahead of the bell, Netflix published its third-quarter earnings after the market closed on Tuesday, with the group reporting that it had snapped up 4.4m new subscribers during the period, ahead of estimates of 3.84m. However, Netflix stock traded lower in pre-market after analysts at Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock, stating its valuation was hard to justify given that revenue growth was expected to slow in 2022.

United Airlines also released its quarterly results after the close, with the carrier coming in ahead of expectations on both the top and bottom line thanks to an ongoing rebound in travel demand.

As far as Wednesday's earnings were concerned, Biogen reported smaller-than-anticipated quarterly sales of its Alzheimer's drug Aduhelm but still managed to beat expectations with group revenues of $2.78bn and earnings per share of $4.77, while Baker Hughes and Verizon will report their latest quarterly results later in the day and Tesla will publish earnings after the close.

On the macro front, mortgage applications fell 6.3% in the week ended 15 October, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, principally due to an increase in the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances from 3.18% to 3.23%. Applications to refinance a home fell 7% week-on-week, and those to purchase a home declined 4.9%.

Still to come, the Federal Reserve's Charles Evans and Randall Quarles will deliver speeches at 1600 BST and 1800 BST, respectively.