Stock Futures Rise Ahead of Manufacturing Data

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stock futures pointed to a strong start for the first trading day of February ahead of a release that may show a rise in U.S. manufacturing activity.

Futures for the

Dow Jones Industrial Average

were up 83 points, or 81 points above fair value, at 12,660. Futures for the

S&P 500

were up 6 points, or 6 points above fair value, at 1314. Futures for the

Nasdaq

were up 11 points, or 11 points above fair value, at 2475.

Wednesday is chock-full of important economic figures, starting with a preview of Friday's government jobs report from payroll processing firm Automatic Data Processing. Companies added 170,000 new jobs in January, according to ADP, falling short of the 185,000 estimate from Thomson Reuters. December payrolls were downwardly revised to 292,000 from 325,000. Monthly gains in employment have averaged 223,000 over the last three months, suggesting that the jobs recovery remains anemic.

The Institute for Supply Management's index of manufacturing activity will be released at 10 a.m. The reading probably came in at 54.5 in January, up from 53.9 in the prior month.

Construction spending for December is expected to rise 0.6%, adding to a 1.2% increase in the prior month. The report will be released by the Commerce Department, also at 10 a.m.

"Equity bulls aren't asking for much," said Ed Yardeni of Yardeni Research. "It doesn't take much to make us happy... All we want to see every day is that the Italian government bond yield is closer to 6% than 7%. This morning, it is at 5.72%." Investors have looked to yields in Italy as a rough gauge of the stability of the debt crisis in the region.

Along with lower borrowing costs in Italy, European stocks were rising. Germany's DAX was up by 1.9% and London's FTSE was up 1.4%. Greece's Prime Minister Lucas Papademos has said he wants to conclude talks on a debt-swap agreement between bondholders by the end of the week, which would effectively remove one roadblock in the country's efforts to gets a second bailout from its European creditors.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei Average settled 0.08% higher and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.28%.

U.S. stocks were headed for gains after a weak end to the strongest January for the S&P 500 index in more than a decade. The Dow has closed up for four straight months but has lost ground in six of the past seven sessions, suggesting that investors are cautious in buying amid lackluster U.S. economic data and corporate earnings, as well as unresolved problems in Europe.

Today's session may see a lot of buzz in the social media and technology space. The long-waited filing for the initial public offering of

Facebook

is expected on Wednesday, according to multiple reports. The company may seek to raise $5 billion when it files its S-1, down from previous reports that Facebook was looking to sell as much as $15 billion worth of stock.

In other corporate news,

Amazon.com

(AMZN) - Get Report

, the giant Internet retailer

, posted fourth-quarter sales below analysts' estimates

and said it could report a first-quarter operating loss. Amazon posted fourth-quarter earnings of $177 million, or 38 cents a share, on sales of $17.43 billion. The average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters was for earnings of 17 cents a share in the quarter on sales of $18.25 billion. Amazon forecast first-quarter sales of $12 billion to $13.4 billion, and operating results between a loss of $200 million and a profit of $100 million, "or between 162% decline and 69% decline compared with first quarter 2011." Analysts are looking for earnings of 33 cents a share in the first quarter on sales of $13.41 billion. Shares were falling 9.3% to $176.40 in premarket trading Wednesday.

Deutsche Boerse

said Wednesday the European Commission will block its planned $10 billion merger with

NYSE Euronext

(NYX)

. "Based on its definition of the market for derivatives trading, (the commission) considers the merger to be inadmissible under competition law," Deutsche Boerse said in a statement. NYSE Euronext shares were increasing 4% to $27.63 in premarket trading.

Chipmaker

Broadcom

(BRCM)

beat Wall Street expectations on the top and bottom lines in the fourth quarter, and gave a solid outlook for the current three months. Broadcom reported fourth-quarter non-GAAP profit of $395 million, or 68 cents a share, on revenue of $1.82 billion, ahead of the average analysts' expectations for a profit of 65 cents a share in the quarter on revenue of $1.80 billion. Broadcom said it expects first-quarter revenue of $1.7 billion to $1.8 billion, and flat product gross margins compared to the fourth quarter. Wall Street expects fiscal first-quarter revenue of $1.73 billion. Shares were advancing 2.8% to $35.31 in early trades.

Sony

(SNE) - Get Report

on Wednesday said that Kazuo Hirai, vice president, will take over the roles of CEO and president on April 1 from Howard Stringer. Stringer will remain chairman of the Japanese consumer electronics giant. Last March, Sony signaled that Hirai would be Stringer's successor by promoting him to head consumer products and services, which makes up the bulk of Sony's $85 billion in annual sales, according to

Reuters

.

Whirlpool

(WHR) - Get Report

said Wednesday that fourth-quarter earnings jumped 20% to offset a drop in sales as the company cut costs. The world's largest appliance maker said net earnings climbed to $205 million, or $2.62 a share, from $171 million, or $2.19, the prior year. However, fourth-quarter sales slipped to $4.9 billion from $5 billion in fourth quarter 2010 as global demand weakened and sales were hurt by a stronger dollar. Shares were surging 8.7% to $59.05 in premarket trading.

Health insurer

Aetna

(AET)

said revenue surged 73% in the fourth quarter as the rate of member use of health care stayed low and the company cut costs. The Hartford, Conn.-based insurer reported earnings of $354.3 million, or 97 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, falling in line with the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. Revenue climbed slightly to $8.57 billion from $8.54 billion. Aetna shares were rising 2.2% to $44.65.

AOL

(AOL)

said Wednesday that profit fell less than expected in the fourth-quarter. The Internet company reported earnings tumbled 66% to $22.8 million, or 23 cents a share, in the fourth quarter. Revenue also slipped 3% to $576.8 million. Analysts expected to see earnings of 16 cents a share. Shares were climbing 3.6% to $16.80.

March oil futures were up 81 cents to $99.29 a barrel. In other commodities, April gold futures were up $8.4 to $1748.80 an ounce.

The dollar index was down 0.3%. The benchmark 10-year Treasury was down 7/32, pushing the yield to 1.82%.

-- Written by Chao Deng in New York

.