US pre-open: Futures point to another mixed open ahead of GDP reading
US futures pointed to another mixed open on Friday ahead of the States' first-quarter GDP figures and another batch of corporate earnings.
As of 1200 BST, Dow Jones and S&P 500 futures were down 0.13% and 0.05%, respectively, while the Nasdaq was up 0.14% ahead of the bell.
The Dow looked set to open 34 points lower after equities closed mixed on Thursday as technology names rallied while industrial shares fell following earnings figures.
In corporate news, Amazon was up 0.95% in pre-market trade after the global technology company posted its first-quarter earnings after US markets closed last night.
Amazon's results for the three months ended 31 March reflected an ongoing change at the company with slightly lower growth rates but bigger profit margins.
Discussing the results, analysts at Shore Capital said: "The Amazon juggernaut continues at pace, demonstrated in the Q1 results. Our key takeaway is that whilst the revenue growth has slowed, the sales mix towards services is starting to build operating margins. The investment in Q2 in Prime delivery is further evidence of the relentless focus on the end consume"
Elsewhere, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Goodyear and American Airlines will report their latest quarterly figures ahead of the opening bell.
On the data front, the US' first-quarter GDP at 1330 BST was the big news of the day, while investors will also be thumbing over the latest reading from the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index at 1500 BST.
A series of strong figures for the US economy has led analysts to upwardly revise forecasts for expansion, with the closely-watched GDP projection from the Atlanta Federal Reserve now expecting an outcome of 2.7%, a marked turnaround from the 0.5% expected just a few weeks earlier.
Discussing the upcoming GDP report, David Cheetham at XTB said: "GDP releases suffer from sizable lags in terms of their release and are prone to numerous revisions but nonetheless they can move markets.
"An expected annualised pace of growth for the first quarter of the year at 2.1% is pretty good compared to most of its peers, and a reading around this level or higher would provide further evidence of the relative outperformance of the US and further support the US dollar which hit its highest level in almost two years this week."