U.S. stock futures firm ahead of data, Fed, earnings
MADRID (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures were pointing to a higher open in what's promising to be a busy Wednesday with first-quarter gross domestic product, a decision from the Federal Reserve on interest rates and plenty of earnings on tap.
S&P 500 futures rose 6 points to 857.80 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 7.5 points to 1,368. Dow industrial futures rose 46 points.
U.S. stocks fell Tuesday as worries over more capital injections for Bank of America and Citigroup in the wake of their "stress tests" trumped consumer-confidence data. The market has been fairly resilient to bank-solvency and health scares, but bulls are frustrated by a rally that has stalled out around 8,000 on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
The economic calendar will take center stage on Wednesday with markets getting a first look at first-quarter real GDP. Analysts at RDQ Economics expect U.S. growth to show another large decline, despite an expected 1.25% increase in real consumer spending, which is about 70% of final demand.
At 2:15 p.m. Eastern, the Fed will release a policy statement after its two-day meeting. Analysts expect officials will go out of their way not to make any announcement or take any action that would disturb what they hope is a nascent recovery underway.
Also on the calendar will be the Treasury Department's quarterly refunding announcement.
Market speculation has centered around whether the Treasury Department may issue a 50-year bond. See full story.
The earnings front is busy, with major companies already reporting in Europe and more due during U.S. trading hours.
Siemens (SI:
Sie) and Sanofi-Aventis () all topped estimates in Europe, w
Financials
Sponsored by:
SNY 27.16, -0.07, -0.ith all of those shares trading higher, lifting the pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 by 1.1%.
Shares of German software giant SAP () , however, were weaker after reporting a 16% fall in net profit, missing analysts forecasts.
On the docket for the U.S. is a huge list of companies due to report including Time Warner () , Goodyear Tire & Rubber () , General Dynamics () and Qwest Communications (Q:
Qwest Communications International Inc
ials
%) reports after the close of trade.
In Asia, stocks were broadly higher as investors began to look past flu headlines, but trading was subdued amid a Japanese holiday.
Oil futures rose 80 cents to $50.71 a barrel ahead of weekly energy inventories data, the dollar was up 0.8% vs. the euro and up 0.4% against the Japanese yen, while yields on 10-year Treasury bonds were mostly flat at 3
MADRID (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures were pointing to a higher open in what's promising to be a busy Wednesday with first-quarter gross domestic product, a decision from the Federal Reserve on interest rates and plenty of earnings on tap.
S&P 500 futures rose 6 points to 857.80 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 7.5 points to 1,368. Dow industrial futures rose 46 points.
U.S. stocks fell Tuesday as worries over more capital injections for Bank of America and Citigroup in the wake of their "stress tests" trumped consumer-confidence data. The market has been fairly resilient to bank-solvency and health scares, but bulls are frustrated by a rally that has stalled out around 8,000 on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
The economic calendar will take center stage on Wednesday with markets getting a first look at first-quarter real GDP. Analysts at RDQ Economics expect U.S. growth to show another large decline, despite an expected 1.25% increase in real consumer spending, which is about 70% of final demand.
At 2:15 p.m. Eastern, the Fed will release a policy statement after its two-day meeting. Analysts expect officials will go out of their way not to make any announcement or take any action that would disturb what they hope is a nascent recovery underway.
Also on the calendar will be the Treasury Department's quarterly refunding announcement.
Market speculation has centered around whether the Treasury Department may issue a 50-year bond. See full story.
The earnings front is busy, with major companies already reporting in Europe and more due during U.S. trading hours.
Siemens (SI:
Sie) and Sanofi-Aventis () all topped estimates in Europe, w
Financials
Sponsored by:
SNY 27.16, -0.07, -0.ith all of those shares trading higher, lifting the pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 by 1.1%.
Shares of German software giant SAP () , however, were weaker after reporting a 16% fall in net profit, missing analysts forecasts.
On the docket for the U.S. is a huge list of companies due to report including Time Warner () , Goodyear Tire & Rubber () , General Dynamics () and Qwest Communications (Q:
Qwest Communications International Inc
ials
%) reports after the close of trade.
In Asia, stocks were broadly higher as investors began to look past flu headlines, but trading was subdued amid a Japanese holiday.
Oil futures rose 80 cents to $50.71 a barrel ahead of weekly energy inventories data, the dollar was up 0.8% vs. the euro and up 0.4% against the Japanese yen, while yields on 10-year Treasury bonds were mostly flat at 3