(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)US stock futures rallied on Tuesday as better than expected housing data boosted hopes of economic recovery.
At 8:24 am ET, Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures increased 4.10 points to 923.50. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 28 points to 8592. Nasdaq Composite Index futures advanced 4 points to 1461.25.
A
Department of Commerce release on Tuesday showed
housing starts jumped 17.2% in May to seasonally adjusted annual rate of 532,000.
Building Permits rose 4% to annual rate of 518,000. Economists had projected Housing Starts to increase to an annual rate of 485,000 and building permits to decline to 508,000 in May.
According to
U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. producer prices rose 0.2% in May while core producer prices declined 0.1% in the month. Economists expected a rise of 0.6% in PPI, and a 0.1% increase in the core PPI.
Early on Tuesday, electronic retailer
Best Buy Co. (
NYSE: BBY) announced that its first-quarter profit fell to $153 million, or 36 cents a share, from $179 million, or 43 cents, in the comparable period last year. Revenue rose 12% to $10.1 billion. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 42 cents a share, exceeding the average analyst estimate of 34 cents a share.
Best Buy also reaffirmed its full-year earnings guidance of $2.50 to $2.90 a share.
FactSet Research Systems Inc. (
NYSE: FDS) said that third-quarter net income climbed to $39 million, or 79 cents a share, from $33 million, or 65 cents a share, in the prior year quarter. Revenue rose 5% to $154 million.
Smithfield Foods Inc. (
NYSE: SFD) swung to fourth quarter los of $78.8 million, or 55 cent a share, compared to net income of $2.4 million, or 2 cents a share in the year-earlier period. Revenue slipped slightly to $2.85 billion from $2.87 billion.
Late on Monday retailer
Casey's General Stores Inc (
NASDAQ: CASY) reported that fourth quarter rose to $15.5 million, or 31 cents a share, from $14.4 million, or 28 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 43 cents a share, beating average analyst estimates of 36 cents. Revenue decreased 27% to $883 million.
On the economic front, industrial production and capacity utilization data are due for release later in the day.
US stocks finished with losses as a stronger dollar pressurized energy stocks and other commodity shares. Stocks also retreated as worse than expected economic data dented investor optimism.
European stocks advanced in afternoon trade. At 13:04 pm London time, the UK FTSE rose 28.42 points or 0.66% to 4,354.43. The German DAX and French CAC increased 0.47% and 0.48% respectively.
Asian stocks finished with losses. The Nikkei 225 dropped 286.79 points or 2.86% to 9,752.88. The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong fell 333.46 points or 1.80% to 18,165.50.
NYMEX Crude oil for July delivery climbed as much as $1.50 or 2.1% to $72.12 a barrel in electronic trading.
Disclosure: Author does not own any of the stocks discussed here.
