The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open on Wednesday, with stocks likely to show a lack of direction following the mixed performance seen in the previous session.
A mixed batch of corporate earnings and U.S. economic news may lead to choppy trading on Wall Street early in the session.
Shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) are surging by 6.7 percent in pre-market trading after the Google parent reported third quarter results that beat analyst estimates on both top and bottom lines.
Snapchat parent Snap (NYSE:SNAP) is also spiking in pre-market trading after reporting better than expected third quarter results and announcing a $500 million stock repurchase program.
Meanwhile, shares of Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) are plunging by 7.8 percent in pre-market trading after the chipmaker reported third quarter revenues that beat expectations but provided disappointing fourth quarter revenue guidance.
Dow component Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) is also likely to come under pressure after the construction equipment maker reported weaker than expected third quarter earnings.
On the U.S. economic front, payroll processor ADP released a report showing private sector employment in the U.S. shot up by much more than anticipated in the month of October.
ADP said private sector employment surged by 233,000 jobs in October after jumping by an upwardly revised 159,000 jobs in September.
Economists had expected private sector employment to climb by 115,000 jobs compared to the addition of 143,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
However, a separate report released by the Commerce Department showed U.S. economic growth unexpectedly slowed in the third quarter.
The Commerce Department said gross domestic product shot up by 2.8 percent in the third quarter after surging by 3.0 percent in the second quarter. Economists had expected another 3.0 percent jump.
The unexpected slowdown in the pace of GDP growth primarily reflected a downturn in private inventory investment and a larger decrease in residential fixed investment.
The major U.S. stock indexes all moved higher during trading on Monday but returned to the mixed performance seen to close out the previous week on Tuesday.
While the tech-heavy Nasdaq showed a notable advance to reach a new record closing high, the Dow closed lower for the sixth time in the past seven sessions.
The Nasdaq climbed 145.56 points or 0.8 percent to 18,712.75, extending its winning streak to four days. The S&P 500 also rose 9.40 points or 0.2 percent to 5,832.92, but the Dow fell 154.52 points or 0.4 percent to 42,233.05.
The climb by the Nasdaq came ahead of the release of earnings news from big-name tech companies, with Alphabet and Advanced Micro Devices among the companies reporting their quarterly results after the close of trading.
Tech giants Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) are also due to release their quarterly results in the coming days.
Semiconductor stocks showed a particularly strong move to the upside, driving the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up by 2.3 percent.
Significant strength was also visible among networking stocks, as reflected by the 1.7 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Networking Index.
Gold and software stocks also saw notable strength on the day, while airline stocks moved sharply lower, dragging the NYSE Arca Airline Index down by 3.6 percent.
Shares of JetBlue (NASDAQ:JBLU) plummeted after the airline reported better than expected third quarter results but forecast a decrease in fourth quarter revenue.
Housing stocks also saw substantial weakness, with the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index plunging by 2.3 percent.
Homebuilder D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI) posted a steep loss after reporting fiscal fourth quarter results that missed estimates and providing disappointing guidance.
The decrease by the Dow came amid significant losses by Home Depot (NYSE:HD), Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) and Travelers (NYSE:TRV).
In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board released a report showing a substantial improvement by U.S. consumer confidence in the month of October.
The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index surged to 108.7 in October after tumbling to a revised 99.2 in September.
Economists had expected the consumer confidence index to inch up to 99.1 from the 98.7 originally reported for the previous month.
A separate report released by the Labor Department showed job openings in the U.S. fell to 7.44 million in September from a downwardly revised 7.86 million in August.
Economists had expected job openings to edge down to 7.99 million from the 8.04 million originally reported for the previous month.