US STOCKS-Wall Street set for strong open as Microsoft, Meta soar

By Lisa Pauline Mattackal and Purvi Agarwal

May 1 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Thursday, powered by Magnificent Seven heavyweights Microsoft and Meta, as their strong quarterly results pointed to a resilient outlook for the technology sector.

Microsoft MSFT.O surged 8.5% in premarket trading after it forecast stronger-than-expected quarterly growth for its cloud-computing business Azure. Meta Platforms META.O gained 6.5% after posting higher-than-expected revenue on the back of a strong advertising performance.

"Their (Meta and Microsoft) outlooks weren't as bleak as some of the tech companies that we've heard from of late ... momentum coming into the day after a late-day rally yesterday combined with better news on two of the Mag Seven names, (and) you've got the potential set-up for a pretty good start to a new month," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth.

The strong results helped calm jitters over an increasingly uncertain outlook for businesses and the economy due to sweeping and often erratic shifts in the U.S. tariff policy and an escalating trade war with China.

Many companies have trimmed or even pulled their forecasts, and data on Wednesday showed the U.S. economy contracted for the first time in three years in the last quarter.

Despite signs of a weakening economy, Federal Reserve policymakers have signaled that short-term interest rates will remain unchanged barring clear data showing slowing inflation or a deteriorating labor market.

Thursday's weekly jobless claims, coming ahead of Friday's nonfarm payrolls data, suggested a rise in layoffs. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits jumped to a seasonally adjusted 241,000 for the week ended April 26, the Labor Department said, above the 224,000 forecast by economists polled by Reuters.

"It's hard to hide from the number of jobs - either jobless claims or number of jobs being created - so this may well be the week where some of the hard data starts to catch up with some of the soft data," Hogan said.

At 08:40 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis YMcv1 were up 257 points, or 0.63%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were up 59.75 points, or 1.07%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 317.75 points, or 1.62%.

Results from megacaps Amazon.com AMZN.O and Apple AAPL.O, due after markets close, will be closely watched for further clues on how the more consumer-oriented tech companies are weathering tariff uncertainty.

Apple shares slipped 1.4% after a federal judge ruled the iPhone maker had violated a U.S. court order to reform its App Store. Amazon shares were up 3.3%.

Other technology megacaps also rose, with Nvidia NVDA.O up 4.7%.

Among other earnings, Eli Lilly LLY.N lost 5% after its quarterly results, while McDonald's MCD.N dipped 1.6% after posting a surprise drop in first-quarter global sales.

Mobile chip designer Qualcomm QCOM.O was one of the latest firms to forecast a hit to revenue from the trade war. Its shares fell 5.8%, while CVS Health CVS.N surged 9.1% after its results.

General Motors GM.N gained 3.8% after offering a new 2025 forecast for core profit following some clarity on automotive tariffs. It had pulled its previous forecast earlier this week.

ISM manufacturing PMIs and construction spending data are due after markets open.