(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures inched higher on Thursday amid optimism over a potential deal to avoid a catastrophic debt default, while Cisco shares were hit by slowing demand for the networking gear maker’s products.
Trading in the early hours was nervy ahead of retail behemoth Walmart Inc’s earnings and forecast, which will be looked at for any revisions, and its commentary on consumer spending trends. Its shares rose 0.5% in premarket trading.
Results this week from retailers such as Target Corp, Home Depot Inc and TJX Companies Inc have shown consumers turning away from non-essentials such as electronics and home goods in the face of high inflation.
Wall Street’s main indexes ended the previous session higher after President Joe Biden and top U.S. congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy reiterated their determination to strike a deal soon to raise the $31.4 trillion federal debt ceiling, agreeing to talk as soon as Sunday.
“We didn’t actually get much in the way of concrete developments, but negotiations are continuing and the mood was lifted by the fact that all the major players reiterated they want to avoid a default, which helped reassure market participants,” strategists at Deutsche Bank wrote in a note.
At 5:35 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 21 points, or 0.06%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 6.25 points, or 0.15%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 21.75 points, or 0.16%.
Dow Jones Industrial Average constituent Cisco Systems Inc’s shares fell 3.6% after it said a large backlog of products due to supply chain constraints has hit demand for new orders from customers.
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc jumped 10.8% as it beat analyst estimates for quarterly adjusted sales on strong demand from legacy titles “NBA 2K” and “Grand Theft Auto”.
Chipmaker Micron Technology Inc shares gained 2.4% as it plans to invest up to 500 billion yen ($3.70 billion) in Japan for new chips over the next few years.
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he welcomed and expected more investment from global chipmakers in the country.
(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
