Wall Street futures drop on underwhelming updates from tech companies

By Medha Singh

(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures tumbled on Friday as dismal business updates from technology mega-caps including Apple Inc fueled investor worries, adding to their concerns about a surge in coronavirus cases.

Apple Inc tumbled 4% premarket after it reported the steepest drop in quarterly iPhone sales in two years due to the late launch of new 5G phones.

Amazon.com Inc fell 1.4% after it forecast a jump in costs related to COVID-19, while Facebook Inc shed 2% as it warned of a tougher 2021.

Google parent Alphabet Inc , however, climbed 7% after it beat estimates for quarterly sales as businesses resumed advertising.

Shares of the technology heavyweights had jumped ahead of tech results on Thursday, helping the S&P 500 close higher.

Still, the benchmark index is set to wrap up its worst week since mid-June, while Wall Street’s fear gauge <.vix> held at a 20-week high, also on fears of a contested election next week.

Ahead of the final weekend before Election Day on Tuesday, President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden will barnstorm across battleground states in the Midwest where the coronavirus pandemic has exploded anew.

Trump has consistently trailed Biden in national polls for months, but polls in the most competitive states have shown a closer race.

At 06:13 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 238 points, or 0.9%, S&P e-minis fell 28.75 points or 0.87% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 140 points, or 1.23%.

Third-quarter earnings season is past its halfway mark and about 84.8% of S&P 500 companies have beaten estimates for earnings, according to Refinitiv data. Overall, profit is expected to tumble 13.4% from a year ago.

Twitter Inc slumped 14.2% after the micro-blogging site reported fewer users than expected and warned the U.S. election could impact ad revenue.

(Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)