TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

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U.S. Stocks Head Toward Higher Open
Monday April 16, 7:56 am ET
By Madlen Read, AP Business Writer
U.S. Stocks Head Toward Higher Open Ahead of Retail Sales Data, Citigroup Earnings

NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks pointed toward a higher open Monday as investors awaited the government's March retail sales report and Citigroup's first-quarter earnings.
Analysts expect the Commerce Department's data to show that consumers spent strongly last month, sending retail sales up by about 0.4 percent following a a feeble 0.1 percent rise in February.

Investors are also watching for first-quarter results from Citigroup, which is forecast to release earnings of $1.08 a share, and rival bank Wachovia Corp.

With earnings reports now coming out in earnest, nearly half the component companies of the Dow Jones industrial average release earnings this week. Investors anticipate they will indicate that corporate growth cooled in the first three months of 2007 compared to previous quarters. Standard & Poor's recent estimate of first-quarter earnings growth for S&P 500 companies is 3.8 percent.

Ahead of Monday's market opening, Dow futures expiring in June rose 25.00, or 0.20 percent, to 12,698.00. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 3.10, or 0.21 percent, to 1,464.40, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 6.00, or 0.33 percent, to 1,837.75.

So far Monday, Mattel Inc. and Eli Lilly & Co. showed profits slipping in the latest quarter.

Mattel, the world's largest toy maker, said its first-quarter profit slipped 60 percent as the year-ago period benefited from a hefty settlement, but the results beat Wall Street's expectations.

Drug maker Eli Lilly & Co. released first-quarter financial results that showed a drop in profit that missed expectations. However, the company reported a rise in revenue, and raised its full-year sales and earnings guidance.

But investors appeared fairly optimistic about the health of U.S. corporations after late Sunday, when Google Inc. and Clear Channel Communications Inc. announced a long-term agreement to let the Internet search company place advertising for its online customers on more than 675 Clear Channel radio stations.

The market was also cheered by reports that Sallie Mae is a takeover target. Education lender Sallie Mae agreed to be sold to two private-investment funds and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. for $25 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Oil prices resumed their climb Monday, with a barrel of light sweet crude rising 48 cents to $64.11 in premarket trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Gold was higher, while the dollar was mixed.