U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open on Thursday, buoyed by Microsoft and Meta, as their strong quarterly results indicated a positive outlook for the technology sector.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 257 points, or 0.63 percent.
The S&P 500 index of small industries also rose by 59.75 points, or 1.07 percent.
The Nasdaq 100 index of small industries rose by 317.75 points, or 1.62 percent.
Microsoft shares rose by 8.5 percent in pre-market trading after forecasting stronger-than-expected quarterly growth for its computing unit.
Meta Platforms shares rose by 6.5 percent after reporting higher-than-expected revenues thanks to strong advertising performance.
Apple shares fell by 1.4 percent after a federal judge ruled that the iPhone manufacturer violated a U.S. court order to fix its app store, while Amazon shares rose by 3.3 percent.
Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth, said that their forecasts - Meta and Microsoft - were not as bleak as some tech companies we've heard about recently.
The momentum that started today follows a late rise yesterday, along with better news from two of the 'Big Seven' companies, paving the way for a good start to a new month.
Strong results helped ease concerns about the increasingly uncertain outlook for companies and the economy, resulting from radical and irregular shifts in U.S. tariff policy and the escalating trade war with China.
Many companies have lowered or even withdrawn their forecasts, and data on Wednesday showed U.S. economic contraction for the first time in three years in the last quarter.
Despite signs of economic weakness, policymakers at the Federal Reserve indicated that short-term interest rates will remain unchanged unless clear data show slowing inflation or a deteriorating labor market.
Weekly unemployment claims on Thursday, which came ahead of Friday's non-farm payroll data, indicated an increase in layoffs.
The Labor Department said initial claims for government unemployment benefits jumped to a seasonally adjusted 241,000 claims for the week ending April 26, exceeding economists' expectations of 224,000 claims as surveyed by Reuters.
Hogan said it's hard to ignore the number of jobs whether it's unemployment claims or the number of new jobs created, so this may be the week when some accurate data begins to catch up with some inaccurate data.