Dow Gains as Draghi Speaks, Microsoft Rises

Mario Draghi is helming his final ECB meeting this morning, and he’s reinforcing his previous message—that the eurozone needs easy money well into the future. With solid earnings, and central bank backing, who needs to worry?

Mario Draghi is helming his final ECB meeting this morning, and he’s reinforcing his previous message—that the eurozone needs easy money well into the future. With solid earnings, and central bank backing, who needs to worry?

8:17 a.m. The Dow Jones Industrial Average looks set for a higher open despite big earnings-related drops in stocks like Twitter (TWTR) and eBay (EBAY) and Ford Motor (F).

Dow futures have advanced 54 points, or 0.2%, while S&P 500 futures have risen 0.2%, and Nasdaq Composite futures have gained 0.6%.

Yes, there are some very big, prominent losers Thursday. Twitter has tumbled 19% to $31.59 after missing earnings forecasts, while eBay has dropped 7.9% to $36.10 after offering below-consensus guidance. Ford is off 3.7% to $8.87 after cutting its own guidance.

But it seems that for every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction. Tesla (TSLA) is up 18% to $299.85 after reporting a surprise profit, while PayPal Holdings (PYPL) has gained 8.3% to $104.66 after topping third-quarter earnings estimates. Microsoft (MSFT) is up just 1.2% to $138.90 after reporting earnings after Wednesday’s close, but has a massive impact due to its $1 trillion market cap.

And don’t forget that Mario Draghi is helming his final ECB meeting this morning, and he’s reinforcing his previous message—that the eurozone needs easy money well into the future.

With solid earnings, and central bank backing, who needs to worry?

Write to Ben Levisohn at Ben.Levisohn@barrons.com

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.