Stock futures inch higher after S&P 500 closes at a record, Disney

Futures contracts linked to the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average edged higher Friday morning as both major indexes looked to end a winning week at records.

Futures on the Dow rose 70 points, while S&P 500 futures added 0.1%. Nasdaq 100 futures fell less than 0.1%.

Shares of Disney jumped more than 5% in premarket trading after the media and theme park giant reported blowout fiscal third-quarter earnings, crushing Wall Street expectations on Disney+ subscriber growth and overall revenue and earnings.

The blue-chip Dow and the S&P 500 are on track to close out a winning week after gaining 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively, through Thursday. Both are at record highs. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite underperformed this week, down 0.1%.

Investors digested mixed economic data on Thursday. Weekly jobless claims came in at 375,000 last week, matching estimates and declining for a third straight week. Meanwhile, the producer price index, excluding volatile food, trade services and energy components, rose 0.9% last month versus a forecast for a 0.5% gain.

“The hot PPI/home price figures took some of the sheen off the Wed CPI-induced ‘inflation has peaked party’ and this spurred very modest profit taking in cyclical groups following two days of outperformance,” Adam Crisafulli, founder of Vital Knowledge, said in a note.

Stocks are rising to records on the back of a stellar earnings season.

Year-over-year earnings growth is expected to be 92.9%, according to Refinitiv. So far about 90% of the S&P 500 companies have handed in their quarterly report, and about 88% of them beat earnings estimates from Wall Street analysts, according to Refinitiv.

Airbnb shares fell 4% after the travel company issued a warning about volatility due to the Covid delta variant.