By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
MADRID (MarketWatch) -- Stock futures rose on Thursday as
well-received earnings lifted shares of Facebook Inc. and Ford
Motor Co. on a busy day for corporate results.
Strong data out of China also underpinned gains across global
markets, while in the U.S., investors will be waiting on data that
could show a potential drop in new-home sales. Weekly jobless
claims are also on tap.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJU4) rose 26
points to 17,051, while those for the S&P 500 (SPU4)(SPU4)
added 3 points to 1,983.80. Futures for the Nasdaq-100 (NDU4)
gained 11.25 points to 3,986.75, a rise of 0.2%.
Ford(F) shares rose 1% in premarket after the car maker beat
earnings expectations. General Motors Co. (GM.XX) will also report
results.
Among the rest of the early reporters are 3M Co. (MMM),
AmerisourceBergen Corp. (ABC), Caterpillar Inc. (CAT).
Shares of Facebook Inc. (F) jumped more than 7% in premarket
action after profit and sales beat expectations. Gilead Sciences
Inc.(GILD) posted strong second-quarter results, lifting shares 1%
in after-hours trading.
(SPU4)Qualcomm Inc.(QCOM) was under pressure after the
wireless-tech company noted some worries about licensees in China,
even as it lifted its full-year adjusted earnings outlook. Shares
fell more than 5% in premarket.
The biggest piece of data for Thursday could be new-home sales,
and economists polled by MarketWatch are expecting the annualized
sales pace of new single-family homes dropped to 475,000 in June,
from a big 504,000-jump in May. The data is due at 10 a.m. Eastern
Time.
Ahead of that, jobless claims are due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, and
economists expect the pace of layoffs remained low in the most
recent weekly period.
After several days of flip-flopping between gains and losses,
the S&P 500 index (SPX) index logged its 26th record close this
year on Wednesday, boosted by well-received results from Biogen
Idec Inc. (BIIB) and Apple Inc. (AAPL).
Outside of a loss for the Nikkei 225 index , Asian stocks rose
across the board Thursday with a 1.2% gain for the China Shanghai
Composite , after a preliminary reading of Chinese manufacturing
data from HSBC hit an 18-month high. European stocks gained across
the board amid a big earnings day there.
Crude-oil (CLU4) edged lower along with gold prices (GCQ4),
while the dollar (DXY) steadied.
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