Morning Briefing: 10 Things You Should Know

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Here are 10 things you should know for Wednesday, Feb. 13:

1. -- U.S. stock futures were pointing slightly higher Wednesday as strong corporate earnings provided a lift to equities.

European stocks were trading mixed early Wednesday. Asian shares ended mostly higher, with the exception of the Nikkei in Japan, which declined 1% to close at 11,251.41.

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2. -- The economic calendar in the U.S. Wednesday includes the Commerce Department's retail sales report for January at 8:30 a.m. EST, and export and import prices for January, also at 8:30 a.m.

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3. -- U.S. stocks on Tuesday ended mixed. with the Dow Jones Industrial Average reclaiming its position above 14,000 for the first time since Feb. 1. The Dow gained 47 points, or 0.3%, to close at 14,019.

The S&P 500 rose 2 points, or 0.2%, to 1,519. The Nasdaq fell 6 points, or 0.2%, to 3,186.

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4. -- President Obama noted how the U.S. has emerged from the rubble of economic crisis in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, his hope to allow families to more easily refinance their homes and the need for deficit reduction, among other economic issues.

The president, however, didn't once mention Wall Street, banks or finance.

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5. -- Cisco Systems (CSCO), the world's largest maker of computer networking equipment, is expected by Wall Street Wednesday to post fiscal second-quarter earnings of 48 cents a share on revenue of $12.1 billion.

Cisco reports after Wednesday's closing bell.

In the year-earlier quarter, Cisco earned $2.2 billion, or 40 cents a share, on revenue of $11.5 billion.

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6. -- Comcast (CMCSA) reached a deal to buy the remaining 49% stake in NBCUniversal from General Electric (GE) for $16.7 billion.

Comcast raised its quarterly dividend by 20% and reported an 18% increase in fourth-quarter earnings.

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7. -- Analysts expect Deere (DE) to post fiscal first-quarter earnings of $1.40 a share on revenue of $6.72 billion.

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8. -- Nvidia (NVDA), the graphics chipmaker, is expected by Wall Street to report fourth-quarter earnings of 24 cents a share.

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9. -- Yahoo! (YHOO) CEO Marissa Mayer said the company's search partnership with Microsoft (MSFT) wasn't delivering the market share gains or the revenue boost that it should, Reuters reported.

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10. -- ING (ING), the bailed-out Dutch bank and insurance company, announced plans Wednesday to cut 2,400 jobs in Europe over the next two years.

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-- Written by Joseph Woelfel



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