Market Morning: Ratings Cuts No Downer
NEW YORK (
) -- U.S. stock futures were higher Tuesday on positive eurozone data while European shares gained despite downgrades from Moody's of the debt ratings of Spain, Italy and Portugal and warnings that the agency could cut the ratings of the U.K., France and Austria as well.
Stocks in Japan rose 0.6% to 9,052.07, their highest close since Sept. 1. The Bank of Japan announced Tuesday it would buy more government bonds while keeping short-term interest rates near zero to boost the economy.
In the U.S. on Monday,
settled firmly in positive territory as Greece appeared on its way to receiving bailout approval and
Apple
(AAPL) - Get Report
shares finished above $500.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
finished up 72.8 points, or 0.6%, at 12,874. The
S&P 500
rose 9.1 points, or 0.7%, at 1352. The
Nasdaq
added 27.5 points, or 1%, at 2931.
Tuesday's economic calendar in the U.S. includes retail sales for January, and export and import prices data for January, both at 8:30 a.m. EST.
Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expect retail sales to rise 0.8%.
Boeing
(BA) - Get Report
said Tuesday it finalized an order from Indonesia's Lion Air for 230 airplanes valued at $22.4 billion, Boeing's largest ever commercial airplane order.
Boeing said Lion Air's order includes 201 737 MAXs and 29 next-generation 737-900 ERs.
MetLife
(MET) - Get Report
is expected by analysts Tuesday to report fourth-quarter earnings of $1.24 a share on revenue of $16.9 billion.
Zynga
(ZNGA) - Get Report
, the largest social gaming company in the world, is expected by analysts Tuesday to post a small profit in its first quarterly report as a public company.
Zynga, knowns for its Facebook games such as "FarmVille" and "Words with Friends," is forecast to earn 3 cents a share on revenue of $302 million, up from year-earlier revenue of $195.8 million.
The Wall Street Journal
reported
Apple
(AAPL) - Get Report
is working with component suppliers in Asia to test a new tablet computer with a smaller screen.
The report cited people familiar with the situation.
Officials at some of Apple's suppliers, who declined to be named, said Apple has shown them screen designs for a new device with a screen size of around 8-inches, and said it is qualifying suppliers for it, the newspaper said. Apple's iPad 2, launched in 2011, comes with a 9.7-inch screen.
Texas Instruments
(TXN) - Get Report
has hired ATREG to advise it on the sale of the semiconductor company's factories in Japan and the U.S.
-- Written by Joseph Woelfel
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Joseph Woelfel
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