Market Morning: Greek Relief
NEW YORK (
) -- U.S. stock futures signaled a higher open for Wall Street Tuesday after Greece secured a second massive financial bailout -- ¿130 billion ($170 billion) -- meant to help the debt-laden country avoid a default next month.
European shares were trading lower after eurozone finance ministers met for 13 hours with private holders of Greek debt, who agreed to a number of concessions early Tuesday. The deal seeks to reduce Greece's massive debts.
Asian shares finished mixed. Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.2% to 9,463.02. Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed with a gain of 0.3%.
U.S. stocks closed mixed Friday ahead of Greece securing the bailout package. U.S. markets were closed Monday for the Presidents' Day holiday.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
gained 45.7 points, or 0.3%, to 12,949, inching closer to the psychological 13,000 level. The
S&P 500
added 3.2 points, or 0.2%, to 1361; it has advanced 8.2% year to date.
The
Nasdaq
declined Friday by 8 points, or 0.3%, to 2951.
The economic calendar in the U.S. is light Tuesday. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago is scheduled to release the Chicago Fed National Activity Index for January.
Oil prices rose close to $105 a barrel after Iran said it was halting oil exports to the U.K. and France, a retaliation for an embargo of Iranian crude over the country's nuclear program that is expected to go into effect in July.
On Tuesday, Iran laid out conditions for future oil exports to European countries. Iran seeks guarantees of payments, long-term contracts and a ban on unilateral cancellation of contracts by buyers, according to
The Associated Press
.
Reuters
reported that the U.S. and Japan were near a deal on a cut in Iranian oil imports.
Home-improvement giant
Home Depot
(HD) - Get Report
earned 50 cents a share in its fiscal fourth quarter as sales jumped 5.9% to $16.01 billion. Same-store sales in the quarter rose 5.7%.
Analysts expected Home Depot to earn 42 cents a share in the quarter on sales of $15.5 billion.
Home Depot said Tuesday its expects earnings in fiscal 2012, after share repurchases, to rise about 13% to $2.79 a share.
Wal-Mart
(WMT) - Get Report
, the world's No. 1 retailer, is expected by analysts to earn $1.45 a share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $124.21 billion.
Kraft Foods
(KFT)
is expected by analysts to post fourth-quarter earnings of 57 cents a share on revenue of $14.79 billion.
Pfizer
(PFE) - Get Report
is exploring partnerships with more Chinese drug companies as it pushes ahead with plans to sell more of its off-patent drugs in the Chinese market,
Reuters
reported.
"We are exploring business development opportunities, including partnerships with local companies that allow us to successfully expand into the generics segment of the market," a Pfizer spokesman told
Reuters
.
-- Written by Joseph Woelfel
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