Day Ahead: Top 3 Things to Watch

Investing.com - Here’s a preview of the top 3 things that could rock markets tomorrow.

1. Amazon, Starbucks Report After the Bell; 3M) Before

It’s postmarket earnings that will likely have the biggest sway again tomorrow.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) will issue first-quarter results after the bell, with analysts predicting a profit of $4.71 per share on sales of nearly $60 billion, according to forecasts compiled by Investing.com.

Attention will likely focus on the core retail business, which was a point of concern in the company’s last earnings report, rather than services and cloud performance. Product sales rose just 8.2% in the fourth quarter, with physical location sales down 2.75% from the year-ago period.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) also issues results postmarket. Analysts are looking for earnings of 56 cents per share for the fiscal second quarter on sales of about $6.3 billion.

Same-store sales, which are always closely watched, are forecast to be up 3% globally.

Starbucks said last earnings season it predicts full-year non-GAAP earnings of $2.68 to $2.73 per share.

Investors will also be looking for details on how the coffee chain company’s rewards program is faring and its progress in China, especially after Chinese rive Luckin announced plans to go public.

Chip bellwether Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Ford Motor (NYSE:F) also report after the bell.

Ahead of trading, 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) will give investors further insight into industrials.

Analysts will be looking for a profit of $2.49 per share and revenue of about $8 billion.

UPS (NYSE:UPS), Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY), Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA), Hershey (NYSE:HSY) and Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) will also be reporting ahead of trading.

2. Investors Cheer Facebook) Ad Strength

Watch for strength in the communication services and social media sectors tomorrow following strong quarterly numbers and after-hours performance from Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) thanks to ad sales.

Facebook topped forecasts on the top and bottom lines, although the comparable profit excluded $3 billion set aside for possible penalties due to the government privacy investigation, which the company said could rise to $5 billion.

Monthly active users (MAUs), one of key metrics that analysts use to gauge the health of the company, increased to 2.38 billion in the first quarter, above estimates for 2.36 billion. Daily active users (DAUs) showed robust growth for the quarter, rising 8% to 1.56 billion.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) may lend a hand to techs, as it rose postmarket. The company reported better-than-expected profit and revenue, including strong numbers in its cloud computing segment, which is now the growth driver.

3. Durable Goods Orders Seen Rebounding

Durable goods orders highlight the economic calendar tomorrow.

The Commerce Department will release the latest figures on orders for long-lasting goods at 8:30 AM ET.

On average, economists expect that orders for goods lasting three or more year rebounded to rise 0.7% in March. Core durable goods orders, which exclude transportation, are expected to have risen 0.2% last month.

At the same time, the weekly jobless claims figures arrive.

Initial jobless claims are forecast to have risen to 199,000 last week.

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