Futures rebound modestly; data, earnings eyed
On Tuesday May 17, 2011, 7:28 am
By Angela Moon
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose in a modest rebound on Tuesday from the previous session's losses and before major tech companies release earnings.
Dell (NasdaqGS:DELL - News) reports earning, along with rival Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ - News), which is set to bring forward its earnings release after reports its chief executive had warned of a tough July quarter.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT - News) said that sales at its U.S. discount stores open at least a year fell 1.1 percent during its first quarter, marking its eighth straight quarterly decline as it works on bringing shoppers back to its biggest chain.
Housing starts data is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. (1230 GMT), with economists predicting a rise to around 568,000 in April compared with 549,000 a month earlier.
Other data set for release includes April's industrial output figures at 9:15 a.m (1315 GMT).
S&P 500 futures rose 4 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration of the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures gained 43 points and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 5 points.
The Nasdaq (Nasdaq:^IXIC - News) fell 1.6 percent on Monday as investors, worried about the U.S. economic outlook, sold stocks that had been recent gainers.
The Dow Jones industrial average (DJI:^DJI - News) and the S&P 500 (^SPX - News) were off 0.4 and 0.6 percent after a report on manufacturing in New York state added to worries about the outlook.
Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD - News) reported weaker-than-expected quarterly sales as inclement weather hurt demand for seasonal goods at the start of the spring selling season.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is investigating Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC - News), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - News) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS - News) about packaging of toxic mortgage loans into securities, the Wall Street Journal said, citing sources.
Mining equipment maker Joy Global (NasdaqGS:JOYG - News) is to buy Rowan Cos Inc's (NYSE:RDC - News) drilling and mining gear unit for $1.1 billion in cash as a way to enter the lucrative oil and gas drilling business.
(Reporting by Angela Moon, Editing by Kenneth Barry)
