Morning Briefing: 10 Things You Should Know

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Here are 10 things you should know for Friday, Feb. 22:

1. -- U.S. stock futures were pointing to gains for Wall Street on Friday following two days of losses on concerns the Federal Reserve is backing away from its accommodative monetary policy.

European shares were rising, getting a lift from Germany's IFO business survey which exceeded expectations.

Asian stocks ended Friday's session mixed. Japan's Nikkei 225 index gained 0.7% to end at 11,385.94.

---

2. -- The economic calendar in the U.S. Friday is bare.

---

3. -- U.S. stocks on Thursday slumped for a second straight day after jobless claims rose and data on general business conditions came in soft.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 47 points, or 0.3%, to finish at 13,881.

The S&P 500 shed 10 points, or 0.6%, to 1,502. The Nasdaq fell 33 points, or 1%, to close at 3,131.

---

4. -- Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), the PC and printer maker, topped analysts' quarterly revenue and earnings estimates and delivered a better-than-expected outlook on Thursday.

HP reported fiscal first-quarter revenue of $28.4 billion, down from $30 billion a year earlier but above Wall Street forecasts of $27.79 billion. Excluding items, HP earned 82 cents a share, down from 92 cents but well above the consensus estimate of 71 cents. Earnings also surpassed HP's forecast of 68 cents to 71 cents a share.

For the second quarter, HP expects earnings, excluding items, of 80 cents to 82 cents a share. Analysts were looking for earnings of 77 cents. HP predicts full-year earnings of $3.40 to $3.60 a share, well above Wall Street's estimate of $3.32.

---

5. -- United Airlines (UAL) said Thursday it was taking the grounded Boeing (BA) 787 Dreamliner out of its flight plans through June 5, and postponed its new Denver-to-Tokyo flights.

Investigators are still trying to figure out what caused a battery fire in one plane and forced the emergency landing of another plane last month. Boeing's 787s have been grounded since Jan. 16.

---

6. -- KKR & Co. (KKR) submitted an offer of $75 a share for industrial machinery maker Gardner Denver (GDI), Reuters reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.

The offer puts KKR in place to buy Gardner Denver, after sources told Reuters that other private-equity bidders have dropped out of the bidding process.

Gardner Denver shares closed Thursday at $67.47.

---

7. -- Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) is expected by analysts Friday to post fourth-quarter earnings of $1.96 a share on revenue of $1.49 billion.

---

8. -- Texas Instruments (TXN), the chipmaker, boosted its quarterly dividend by 33% to 28 cents a share and said it plans to buy back $5 billion more of its stock.

---

9. -- Citigroup (C) CEO Michael Corbat was paid $11.5 million in 2012, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

---

10. -- Earnings are expected Friday from Washington Post (WPO), Charter Communications (CHTR) and Interpublic Group (IPG).

---

-- Written by Joseph Woelfel



>To contact the writer of this article, click here: Joseph Woelfel

>To submit a news tip, send an email to: [e-mail].

Copyright 2013 TheStreet.com Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. AP contributed to this report.