By Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Medha Singh
(Reuters) – The Nasdaq was set to open higher on Wednesday, extending a rebound after a turbulent start to the year, as Google-parent Alphabet and chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices’ shares surged following strong quarterly results.
Alphabet Inc rose about 10% in premarket trading after reporting record quarterly sales on Tuesday, and said it plans to undertake a 20-to-one stock split.
The stock split should make it more appealing to retail investors, said Neil Wilson, chief market analyst for Markets.com, adding that Alphabet earnings will underpin a return in confidence in beaten down technology names.
“After all the tumult of January, solid earnings can be a catalyst for gains.”
Facebook-parent Meta Platforms Inc, which is set to report results on Wednesday, rose 3.4%, and Amazon.com Inc slated to report on Thursday firmed 2.5%.
Last month the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell as much as 19% from its all-time high in November as investors dumped highly valued growth stocks on prospects of faster-than-expected rate hikes.
Traders are betting on five rate hikes this year after hawkish comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve last month.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc climbed 12.1% after the company on Tuesday forecast 2022 revenue above expectations, following strong quarterly demand for its semiconductors, despite global supply snags.
Rival Intel Corp slipped 0.7%, but other chipmakers including Nvidia Corp, Qualcomm Inc and Micron Technology Inc rose between 2.1% and 5.6%.
At 8:24 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 36 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 33.75 points, or 0.74%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 214 points, or 1.43%.
U.S. private payrolls unexpectedly fell in January as a resurgence in COVID-19 infections disrupted business activity, the ADP National Employment Report showed. Private payrolls dropped by 301,000 jobs last month, according to the report.
The more comprehensive jobs report is due on Friday.
Of the companies that have reported results so far during this earnings season, 78.8% of them have beaten analysts’ earnings estimates, compared with an average of 84% over the past four quarters, according to Refinitiv data.
“It comes down to this earnings season and how well companies can prove they operated during the heat of Omicron,” said Keith Buchanan, portfolio manager at Globalt Investments in Atlanta.
“The guidance will indicate how the companies hope to perform now as the pandemic dies away and the resilience of their business models.”
PayPal Holdings Inc slumped 18% after it forecast first-quarter revenue and profit well below expectations.
Starbucks Corp fell 3% as the coffee chain lowered its estimates for profits this year and said it will raise menu prices in 2022 and reduce some spending to offset soaring costs for labor and goods.
(Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
