Futures Rise as Midterm Voting Begins
NEW YORK (
) -- Stock futures pointed to a higher open Tuesday amid more earnings news and as U.S. voters head to the polls for the midterm elections.
Futures for the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
were up by 54 points, or 71 points above fair value at 11,144. Futures for the
S&P 500
were 6 points higher, or 9 points above fair value at 1189 and
Nasdaq
futures were up by 12 points, or 15 points above fair value.
Stocks flattened Monday despite strong manufacturing data from the U.S., China, and India.
On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia unexpectedly raised rates 0.25 percentage point to 4.75%, tightening policy for the first time in six months, to preemptively reduce inflation pressures, according to a
Wall Street Journal
report.
The U.S. dollar traded lower against a basket of currencies with the dollar index down by 0.7%.
With no economic reports scheduled for release on Tuesday, markets will be waiting to see whether Republicans take the House in the midterm elections, as expected. Investors are likely to refrain from making any big bets as the
Federal Reserve's
two-day policy-making meeting begins. The Federal Open Market Committee will make a statement on Wednesday afternoon. The market has been anticipating the announcement of additional quantitative easing measures at the conclusion of the FOMC meeting since late August.
|
General Motors
is expected to price its shares between $26 and $29 raising roughly $10 billion in an initial public offering, according to reports. The IPO is expected to take place around Nov. 18 and the U.S. government is anticipated to lower its stake in the automaker to roughly 43% from 61% not including extra share allotments bankers may offer to meet strong demand, the
Associated Press
reported. Meanwhile, the
Wall Street Journal
said the U.S. will reduce its stake to about 35%.
Pfizer
(PFE) - Get Report
said third-quarter net earnings dropped 70% from a year earlier to 11 cents a share on costs related to its
Wyeth
acquisition. Adjusted earnings of 54 cents a share, however, topped consensus estimates by 3 cents. Sales rose 39% to $16.2 billion, missing expectations for sales of $16.69 billion.
Archer Daniels Midland
(ADM) - Get Report
said first-quarter earnings fell 30% to $345 million, or 54 cents a share, including roughly $133 million in charges. Consensus estimates, which typically exclude non-recurring items, called for 75 cents a share. Sales, however, grew 13% to $16.8 billion, exceeding expectations for sales of $15.66 billion.
BP
(BP) - Get Report
said third-quarter earnings dropped as it recorded additional Gulf of Mexico oil spill charges. The company's replacement cost profit was $1.85 billion, or $5.5 billion on an adjusted basis, compared with $4.98 billion a year earlier. Analysts had been expecting a replacement cost profit of $4.5 billion.
MasterCard
(MA) - Get Report
handily topped expectations for earnings of $3.45 a share with a third-quarter profit of $3.94 a share, while sales rose 4.7% to $1.4 billion. The company said global purchase volume during the quarter jumped 7.9% on a local currency basis, year-over-year, to $514 billion and the number of processed transactions inched 0.6% to 5.8 billion.
Food company
Kellogg
(K) - Get Report
missed estimates by 4 cents with earnings of 90 cents a share. Sales slipped to $3.16 billion, from $3.28, previously, which was largely in line with expectations.
Newmont Mining
(NEM) - Get Report
reported adjusted third-quarter earnings of $1.08 a share on sales of $2.6 billion, beating estimates for a profit of 95 cents a share on sales of $2.37 billion. The company also narrowed its 2010 gold production outlook to between 5.3 million and 5.4 million ounces from its previous range of between 5.3 million to 5.5 million ounces.
Medco Health Solutions
(MHS)
reported adjusted earnings of 91cents a share, which exceeded estimates for earnings of 88 cents a share. Sales rose 10.3% to $16.32 billion, topping Wall Street's revenue target of $16.13 billion.
In commodity markets, the December crude oil contract added $1.10, to trade at $84.05 a barrel. Meanwhile, the December gold contract gained $7.90 to $1,358.50 an ounce.
Meanwhile, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury note strengthened 7/32, diluting the yield to 2.603%.
Overseas, Hong Kong's Hang Seng inched 0.08% higher and Japan's Nikkei climbed 0.06%. The FTSE in London surged 1.3% and the DAX in Frankfurt added 0.9%.
--Written by Melinda Peer in New York
.
Disclosure: TheStreet's editorial policy prohibits staff editors and reporters from holding positions in any individual stocks.
