Earnings Reports Boost Wall Street Confidence

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Premarket futures indicated a higher open for stocks in New York ahead of the latest data on the U.S. consumer as a round of earnings reports boosted Wall Street's confidence.

Futures for the S&P 500 up 5.2 points, at 1034.5, and were 4.37 points above fair value. Futures for the Nasdaq edged up 7 points, to 1646, and were 4.91 points atop fair value.

Stocks eked out gains Thursday after a rocky start as stocks initially fell despite a less severe decline than expected in production. All three major indices were positive for the week heading into Friday's session, which should bring a more current picture of the U.S. consumer.

July personal income and spending data are due out at 8:30 a.m. EDT, to be followed by the revised August consumer sentiment reading from the University of Michigan. Expectations are for a slight improvement in income and sentiment, but also a lesser increase in spending compared to June.

Meanwhile, earnings late Thursday and early Friday helped reinvigorate the bulls.

Dell(DELL Quote), which accidentally released its results early on its Web site, topped expectations . Chipmaker Marvell(MRVL Quote) also blew past analysts' estimates, despite taking a revenue and profit hit.

Outside of the tech space, J. Crew(JCG Quote) and Paris-based L'Oreal(OR Quote) also posted better-than-expected profits for the recent quarter and first six months in 2009, respectively, and estimated that sales will continue to improve.

In other news, China Unicom(CHU Quote) said Friday it reached a three-year agreement to sell Apple's(AAPL Quote) iPhone in China, the world's largest mobile phone market.