By Carla Mozee and Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
Coca-Cola climbs premarket after earnings beat views
U.S. stock-market index futures fell Wednesday as investors zoom
in on quarterly figures from three Dow components, including
McDonald's Corp., as well as an economic report on the housing
market.
Futures for Dow Jones Industrial Average (YMM5) lost 49 points,
or 0.3%, to 17,835, and those for the S&P 500 (ESM5) swung down
by 3.50 points, or 0.2%, to 2,087.50. Futures for the Nasdaq
Composite (NQM5) fell 4.75 points, or 0.1%, to 4,423.75.
Investors are keyed into corporate earnings as a guide to the
health of the U.S. economy amid one of the busiest weeks for
companies to roll out quarterly results.
Ahead of the bell, McDonald's (MCD) will update its investors,
following better-than-expected earnings from peer Dow companies
Coca-Cola (KO) and Boeing (BA).
Stock-index futures were seeing "consolidation ahead of more
earnings results," said Fawad Razaqzada, technical analyst at
Forex.com. "The S&P 500 has been touching this bearish trend
line around 2,110 ... so the market is just waiting to see how the
rest of the U.S. earnings will be like before deciding to push
higher."
More big names will report after the close of trading, including
Facebook Inc. (FB) and eBay Inc. (EBAY).
On Tuesday
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-futures-climb-ahead-of-trio-of-dow-earnings-2015-04-21),
the S&P 500 (SPX) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI),
fell 0.2% and 0.5%, respectively. But gains for biotech stocks
helped pushed the Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) up 0.4% to 5,014.10.
Data: A report on February house prices from Federal Housing
Finance Agency is due at 9 a.m. Eastern Time. Then at 10 a.m.
Eastern, the National Association of Realtors will release figures
on sales of existing homes in March. Sales are expected to rise to
a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.08 million, according to economists
polled by MarketWatch.
Earnings: McDonald's is expected to report earnings of $1.06 a
share for the first quarter
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-to-expect-from-mcdonalds-earnings-2015-04-21).
Coca-Cola posted better-than-expected profit
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/cokes-results-top-expectations-2015-04-22-74854226)
and revenue in the first quarter, helping send the shares up 3.5%
ahead of the bell.
Boeing'sfirst-quarter earnings also beat forecasts
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/boeing-profit-beats-estimates-sales-fall-short-2015-04-22),
with results boosted by buoyed by strong commercial-jet demand.
Shares added 0.1%.
Angie's List (ANGI) shares jumped 5.7% premarket after the
company, which operates a website that allows users to review local
businesses, said it swung to a profit in the first quarter
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/angies-lists-stock-jumps-after-company-swings-to-surprise-profit-2015-04-22).
After the bell, Facebook(FB) is expected to report first-quarter
earnings
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-to-expect-from-facebooks-earnings-2015-04-21)
of 41 cents a share, and eBay(EBAY) is likely to say first-quarter
earnings were 70 cents a share.
Other markets: Japanese stocks closed above 20,000
(http://www.marketwatch.com/storyno-meta-for-guid) for the first
time in 15 years, and Hong Kong-listed stocks finished higher.
European stocks (http://www.marketwatch.com/storyno-meta-for-guid),
meanwhile, were pulling back.
Oil (CLM5) was trading lower, but remained above $56 a barrel.
Gold futures (GCK5) hovered around the $1,200 mark. The ICE dollar
index (DXY) dropped 0.3%.
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