NEW YORK, July 19 — US stock index futures rose today as Apple shares edged higher after sharply dropping in the previous session, while investors focused on another round of earnings to gauge the strength of corporate America.

Shares of the iPhone maker rose 0.3 per cent in premarket trading today, along with other high-growth stocks including Tesla Inc, Microsoft Corp, Meta Platforms Inc and Amazon.com Inc.

Apple fell 2 per cent and dragged US stocks lower yesterday after a report that the company will slow hiring and spending growth next year.

Shares of Boeing Co added 2.1 per cent premarket on plans by private equity firm 777 Partners to buy up to 66 more Boeing 737 MAX jets.

As second-quarter earnings season officially kicked off, analysts now expect aggregate year-on-year S&P 500 second-quarter profit growth of 6 per cent, down from the 6.8 per cent estimate at the beginning of the quarter, according to Refinitiv data.

Johnson & Johnson fell 0.4 per cent after the drugmaker trimmed its full-year adjusted profit forecast on a stronger dollar.

IBM Corp, which reported after close yesterday, also warned of about US$3.5 billion hit due to a stronger dollar. Its shares fell 5.8 per cent.

Hasbro Inc posted a 10 per cent rise in quarterly adjusted earnings, but shares of the toymaker fell 1.2 per cent.

At 6:53 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 198 points, or 0.64 per cent, S&P 500 e-minis were up 32 points, or 0.83 per cent, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 101 points, or 0.85 per cent. — Reuters