Morning Briefing: 10 Things You Should Know

U.S. stock futures point higher; Apple's profit beats expectations; Ford, Boeing and Caterpillar to post quarterly results.
By Joseph Woelfel ,

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -- Here are 10 things you should know for Wednesday, July 24:

1.

-- U.S. stock futures were pointing to gains on Wall Street Wednesday after

Apple's

(AAPL) - Get Report

earnings topped forecasts and ahead of reports from the likes of

Ford

(F) - Get Report

,

Facebook

(FB) - Get Report

and

Boeing

(BA) - Get Report

.

European shares were rising on purchasing managers index reports that came in better than expected. Asian stocks ended Wednesday's trading session mixed.

2.

-- The

economic calendar

in the U.S. Wednesday includes new-home sales for June at 10 a.m. EDT.

3.

--

U.S. stocks

ended Tuesday's session mixed as investors showed caution about this seemingly never-ending bull market.

The

S&P 500

dropped 0.2% to finish at 1,692.39 after trading as high as 1,698.78, a new intraday record. On Monday, the S&P hit a record closing price of 1,695.53. The

Dow Jones Industrial Average

added 0.1% to 15,567.74 while the

Nasdaq

fell 0.6% to 3,579.27.

4.

--

Apple's

(AAPL) - Get Report

third-quarter earnings beat Wall Street expectations, as the company sold 31.2 million iPhones during the period.

Apple earned $7.47 a share

on revenue of $35.3 billion in its fiscal third quarter. Analysts were expecting profit of $7.32 a share in sales of $35.01 billion.

During the quarter, Apple sold 31.2 million iPhones, up from 26 million in the year-earlier quarter. It sold 14.6 million iPads during the quarter, down from17 million a year earlier, and sold 3.8 million Macs during the quarter, down from 4 million in the year-earlier period.

Gross margins during the quarter were 36.9%, down from 42.8% a year earlier.

For the fourth quarter, Apple expects revenue of between $34 billion and $37 billion, with gross margins between 36% and 37%.

5.

-- Wall Street expects automaker

Ford

(F) - Get Report

to report on Wednesday second-quarter earnings of 37 cents a share on sales of $35.15 billion.

Last year, Ford earned 30 cents a share on revenue of $31.4 billion.

6.

-- Analysts expect

Facebook

(FB) - Get Report

, the social networking giant, to post after Wednesday's closing bell second-quarter earnings of 14 cents a share on revenue of $1.62 billion.

Investors will be focused Wednesday on signs that Facebook can keep growing advertising revenue, especially on mobile devices.

7.

--

Boeing

(BA) - Get Report

, the aerospace manufacturer, is expected by Wall Street to report second-quarter earnings of $1.58 a share on revenue of $20.78 billion.

8.

--

Caterpillar

(CAT) - Get Report

, the heavy machinery maker, is forecast to report second-quarter earnings of $1.70 a share.

9.

-- Credit card company

Visa

(V) - Get Report

is expected by Wall Street to earn $1.79 a share in its fiscal third quarter on revenue of $2.89 billion.

10.

-- Federal prosecutors are preparing to announce criminal charges as early as this week against

SAC Capital Advisors

, the

hedge fund

that has been the target of a multiyear investigation into alleged insider trading,

The Wall Street Journal

reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

-- Written by Joseph Woelfel

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

Joseph Woelfel

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tips@thestreet.com

.

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