US STOCKS-Nasdaq futures rise on Netflix boost

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Futures: Nasdaq up 0.38%, S&P up 0.11%, Dow flat

Jan 20 (Reuters) - Nasdaq futures rose on Friday, after Netflix (NFLX) kicked off the earnings season for the growth sector on a positive note, but worries about a U.S. recession kept a lid on sentiment.

Shares of Netflix Inc (NFLX) jumped 5.7% in premarket trading, after the streaming company added more subscribers than expected in the fourth quarter and said co-founder Reed Hastings was stepping down as chief executive.

Netflix's (NFLX) quarterly update comes as the technology sector faces gloomy prospects due to rising interest rates and economic worries that have forced companies such as Microsoft Corp (MSFT) and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN) to lay off thousands of employees.

Alphabet Inc (GOOG) was the latest to join the list as it said it was cutting 12,000 jobs on Friday. Shares of the company rose 1.7%.

Wall Street's main indexes ended the previous session lower after resilient labor market data renewed concerns the Federal Reserve would continue its aggressive rate-hiking cycle that could tip the economy into a recession.

Recent commentary from various Fed officials has pointed to a terminal rate above 5%, while the money market participants still bet rates peaking at 4.9% by June and see a 93.7% chance for a 25-basis point rate hike in February.

"We had encouraging data which showed inflationary pressures falling, which suggests that the Fed may not have to tighten as far or as aggressively. That is good for equities generally, but if we're going to get a mild recession, that's not good for earnings," said Stuart Cole, Equiti Capital's head macroeconomist.

"Overall we're just seeing uncertainty being reflected in the kind of mixed message we're getting from futures this morning."

On the earnings front, State Street Corp and Ally Financial Inc will report their fourth-quarter results later in the day.

At 6:06 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 7 points, or 0.02%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 4.5 points, or 0.11%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 43.5 points, or 0.38%.

The S&P 500 has lost 2.5% so far in the week and the Nasdaq is down more than 2%. The Dow is down 3.67% and is on track for its worst week since September.

Investors will monitor existing home sales data, which is expected to show a moderation in the sales of existing homes in December. The report is due at 10 a.m. ET.

Also on the radar are comments from Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker and Board Governor Christopher Waller. (Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Shubham Batra in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)