Live Market Updates: Nasdaq Composite Up | NFLX & ISRG Crush Earnings

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Major indexes faded late in Thursday's trading, with the Nasdaq Composite finishing up just .036%. The S&P 500 fell .017%, while the Dow Jones led major indexes with a .37% gain.

As of 7:30 a.m. on Friday, stocks are generally up in premarket trading.

• Nasdaq Futures: Up 93.00 (+.46%)
• S&P 500 Futures: Up 11.75 (+.20%)
• Dow Jones Industrial Futures: Down 23 (-.05%)

Earnings continue to be the dominant story. Let's look at some of today's biggest headlines.

Friday Morning Earnings

Earnings this morning before the bell include some major companies like Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB), and American Express (NYSE: AXP).

So far, so good. All three stocks have beat earnings estimates.

• American Express: EPS of $3.49 vs estimates of $3.28
• Schlumberger: EPS of $.89 vs estimates of $.88
• Procter & Gamble: EPS of $1.93 vs. estimates of $1.90

Banking & banking-related stocks continue to perform well across this earnings season. Another bright spot that's emerging is consumer spending. Retail sales came in. better than expected and Procter & Gamble's earnings are another point of optimism.

The company did come up short on sales relative to Wall Street estimates. However, the slowdown was attributed mostly to weakness in Chinese consumer spending.

Netflix Crushes Earnings

Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) announced earnings after market close yesterday, and just about every metric they reported beat estimates.

The company reported EPS of $5.40 ($5.12 expected) and revenue also beat expectations. Another closely watched metric is the company's paid net additions, which once again exceed expectations by a comfortable margin (5.07 million vs. 4.52 million).

Looking ahead, guidance exceeded expectations.

The company has managed to keep content budgets flat from spending in 2019 while adding more than 100 million subscribers. This has led to significant margin expansion.

Streaming competitors like Disney and Paramount cutting back on spending has created a far better competitive dynamic for Netflix. The stock was up 47% year-to-date headed into yesterday and is up 6.58% in pre-market trading.

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