Dow futures largely unchanged ahead of GDP release; Tesla slumps By

-- U.S. stock futures traded in a muted fashion Thursday,fxsol Forex official website download as investors digested a deluge of corporate earnings ahead of the release of key economic growth data.

By 06:45 ET (11:45 GMT), the contract was down 20 points, or 0.1%, while traded 4 points, or 0.1%, lower and climbed 17 points, or 0.1%.

The main U.S. averages closed in a mixed fashion Wednesday, as strong subscriber numbers resulted in Netflix (NASDAQ:) posting strong gains, powering the and the to their fifth consecutive winning days. The , by contrast, slipped 0.3%.

U.S. fourth quarter growth data due

Investors are likely to focus Thursday on the first reading of U.S. growth data for the fourth quarter, due later in the session, which will provide an indication of the health of the world's largest economy.

Economists are predicting that real in the U.S. grew at a 2.0% annual rate in the final three months of last year, slowing from 4.9% in the third quarter.

The recent rally in stocks has been partly fueled by expectations that the will shortly start cutting interest rates, judging that its rate-hiking campaign has had the desired impact cooling inflation without sparking a steep economic downturn.

Fed officials have moved to temper this optimism, but a sharp cooling in quarterly growth could again play into the idea that interest rate cuts are just around the corner.

Tesla slumps on rising competition

The earnings season is in full flow, and health-care giant Humana (NYSE:) is expected to report before the bell, along with Southwest Airlines (NYSE:) and American Airlines (NASDAQ:). After the close, Intel (NASDAQ:), T-Mobile (NASDAQ:) and (NASDAQ:) will post their quarterly results.

Elsewhere, Tesla (NASDAQ:) stock fell 8% premarket after CEO Elon Musk warned that the electric vehicle manufacturer expects to see "notably lower" sales growth in 2024 versus the prior year, as it faces intensifying competition, particularly from its Chinese rivals.

Boeing (NYSE:) stock fell over 3% after the U.S. aviation regulator said that it will not let the planemaker expand production of its 737 MAX jet, in the wake of a dangerous mid-air breach on its MAX 9 model earlier this month.

(NYSE:) stock rose over 7% after the tech giant forecast full-year revenue growth above expectations, banking on stable demand for its IT software and consultancy services from businesses looking to adopt artificial intelligence.

Crude helped by hefty U.S. inventories draw

Oil prices climbed higher Thursday, boosted by inventories falling more than expected last week as well as stimulus measures from top importer China.

By 06:45 ET, the U.S. crude futures traded 1.3% higher at $76.08 a barrel, while the contract climbed 1.2% to $81.00 a barrel, trading once more above the widely-watched $80 a barrel level.

U.S. crude stockpiles tumbled by a hefty 9.2 million barrels last week, according to the , but this figure was impacted by the harsh winter weather which shut in refineries and kept motorists off the road.

U.S. crude output fell from a record 13.3 million barrels per day two weeks ago to a five-month low of 12.3 barrels per day last week.

Elsewhere, the People’s Bank of China on Wednesday unexpectedly cut reserve requirements for local banks, freeing up more liquidity in another attempt to foster economic growth in the world’s largest oil importer.

Additionally, traded 0.1% higher at $2,017.50/oz, while traded 0.1% higher at 1.0892.

(Oliver Gray contributed to this article.)

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