By Bryan McCormick
U.S. stock index futures are mixed at the time of this writing, with narrow fractional gains in the S&P 500 but a nearly three-quarter percent loss in the Nasdaq 100. Trading in U.S. markets is very light at this hour.
Overnight Asian markets were mixed, but Europe has started the day strongly on the upside. Germany's ZEW investor sentiment index saw a large jump to 15.4 from 4.3 reading in December. The index is a gauge of German investor sentiment, which has remained high through the country's strong industrial recovery.
In the United Kingdom consumer inflation came in at 3.7 percent, higher than the forecast 3.4 percent. The prospect of higher rates to come as inflation grows helped to send the U.K. pound higher.
The U.S. dollar drifted lower against its basket, with the euro and pound both strong. This move has not boosted commodity prices much if at all this morning, with the bulk of them flat to down so far.
In stock-specific news, the surprise announcement by Apple (AAPL) over the holiday yesterday that CEO Steve Jobs would take a third medical leave helped send the stock down by more than 4 percent. Despite very high expectations for earnings and sales results for its earnings report today, the stock may labor under renewed concerns for the future of the company.
Citigroup's (C) results are just crossing the tape now, after the stock has gained more than 1.5 percent on expectations for a solid report. Banking stocks in general are stronger this morning on those expectations. The group is also being buoyed by Comerica's (CMA) $1 billion bid for Sterling Bancshares (SBIB), which comes to about $10 per share. That stock is up nearly 24 percent on the news by Comerica, which also reported earnings.
Other earnings reports today will come from Fastenal (FAST), Forest Laboratories (FRX), IBM (IBM), Linear Technology (LLTC), and Western Digital (WDC). Tomorrow's lineup includes Amphenol (APH), eBay (EBAY), Bank of New York Mellon (BK), Goldman Sachs (GS), Northern Trust (NTRS), SLM (SLM), State Street (STT), U.S. Bancorp (USB), Wells Fargo (WFC), and Xilinx (XLNX).
Disclosure: No position
No comments:
Post a Comment