Stock futures rise as investors study earnings reports

U.S. equity futures are pointing to a higher open when the Friday Wall Street session begins.

The major futures indexes are suggesting a 0.2 percent rise.

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Shortly after trading ended for the day, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google’s parent company all reported bigger profits for the latest quarter than Wall Street had forecast. Apple also declared a 4-for-1 stock split.

France's economy shrank by nearly 14 percent in the second quarter, when the country was in coronavirus lockdown. It was the third consecutive quarter of negative growth in a worsening recession.

In Europe, London's FTSE is off 0.1 percent, Germany's DAX was gaining 0.4 percent and France's CAC is rising by 0.1 percent.

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Asian shares tumbled Friday as reports showed layoffs of American workers are persisting at high levels after the U.S. economy contracted at a nearly 33 percent annual pace in the spring, the worst quarter on record.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei dropped 2.8 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipped 0.5 percent and China's Shanghai Composite added 0.7 percent.

In one positive signal, China reported its manufacturing activity edged up in July and export orders strengthened despite weak U.S. and European demand. The monthly survey released Friday was another sign the world’s second-largest economy is gradually recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
I:DJI	DOW JONES AVERAGES	38852.27	+176.59	+0.46%
SP500	S&P 500	5180.74	+52.95	+1.03%
I:COMP	NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX	16349.24507	+192.92	+1.19%

In the Thursday session on Wall Street, the S&P 500 dropped 0.4 percent,  the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.9 percent and the Nasdaq climbed 0.4 percent.

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Benchmark U.S. crude is adding 22 cents to $40.14 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 25 cents to $43.19 a barrel.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.