Stock Futures Rise as U.S. Election Polls Open
Updated from 6:55 a.m. EST
Premarket futures were intimating a higher open for stocks in New York Tuesday, as traders heard some encouraging
and the polls opened for the U.S. presidential election.
Futures for the
S&P 500
were up 20 points at 989 and were 24 points ahead of fair value.
Nasdaq
futures were up 26 points at 1367 and were 30 points better than fair value.
On Monday, stocks closed narrowly mixed as traders looked ahead to election day and several economic data points dampened investor enthusiasm.
Following Monday's close, credit-card company
(MA) - Get Mastercard Incorporated Report
took a net loss on charges related to its settlement of a legal scuffle with
Discover Financial Services
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. Excluding the charge, however, MasterCard's earnings trumped the Street's forecasts.
Energy company
Anadarko Petroleum
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reported that third-quarter profit climbed year over year and beat analyst estimates.
Farm products maker
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reported profit that more than doubled year over year.
Pharmacy operator
Walgreen
(WAG)
announced Tuesday that its October same-store sales climbed 2% year over year.
Media firm
Viacom
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wasn't so fortunate, as its earnings dropped 37% year over year.
Ahead of the new day's trading,
The Wall Street Journal
reported that the
is mulling taking equity positions in financial companies beyond banks and insurers. According to the report in the
Journal
,
General Electric's
(GE) - Get General Electric Company Report
GE Capital segment and
CIT Group
(CIT) - Get CIT Group Inc. Report
are among businesses that may become eligible.
Elsewhere in the financials, Swiss bank
UBS
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announced it swung to a profit for the third quarter. The profitable quarter follows four straight earnings periods marked by losses on writedowns tied to mortgage securities.
Looking at the day's economic data, the Census Bureau is set to release its look at September factory orders.
In the realm of commodities, crude oil was rising 90 cents to $64.81 a barrel. Gold was adding $18.10 to $744.90 an ounce.
Longer-dated U.S. Treasury securities were declining in price. The 10-year was losing 4/32 to yield 3.93%, and the 30-year was lower by 15/32, yielding 4.35%. The dollar was rising vs. the yen but declining against the euro and pound.
Overseas, European exchanges, including the FTSE in London and the Dax in Frankfurt, were broadly trading higher. As for Asian stocks, Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed higher.
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