Financial Market Preview - Friday 1-May

US equity futures are modestly higher, Asian markets are broadly higher while European markets are mostly closed for holidays with UK equities slightly weaker. Equities were supported by strong earnings momentum, with Q1 results continuing to exceed expectations and reinforcing key themes around robust AI-driven compute demand and elevated capex. While big tech earnings were mixed, overall takeaways remained constructive, and additional support came from a pullback in oil prices and yields.Companies mentioned: OpenAI, Nexstar Media Group, Two Harbors Investment