Wall Street looks to consolidate after hitting fresh highs for 2009 earlier in the week. Stock futures did improve slightly and the tech-heavy Nasdaq continues to fight for positive ground after a report showed a stronger-than-expected 4.9% gain for durable-good orders in July. Aircraft orders were largely behind the increase; durables ex-transportation were up 0.8%.
Stocks gained Tuesday after data showing improving housing prices and consumer confidence.
More evidence that the housing market continues to slowly recover may be needed to extend this week's early advance. New-home sales data is due at 10 a.m. ET.
Also on tap, the Treasury is selling $39 billion in 5-year notes, and Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart will discuss the economy at 12 p.m. ET.
As for individual movers:
Human Genome Sciences (
HGSI) is up sharply. The stock gained about 12% in Tuesday's regular session on speculation GlaxoSmithKline (
GSK) may be interested in acquiring the company.
Williams-Sonoma (
WSM) is up some 3% after it reports Q2 non-GAAP EPS of $0.05 vs $0.09 in the year-ago quarter and better than the Thomson Reuters mean analyst estimate for a loss of $0.09. Revenue fell 18% to $672 million. The Street looks for $658.3 million. Same-store sales fell 15.3%. Revenue guidance straddles the Street view.
Dollar Tree (
DLTR) says it earned $0.63 per share in Q2, topping the Thomson Reuters estimate for $0.54. Sales were $1.22 billion, versus the consensus for $1.21559 billion.
U.S. PRE-MARKET INDICATORS
-Dow Industrial futures down 7 points.
-S&P 500 futures up 0.2 point.
-Nasdaq 100 futures up 3 points.
-Nasdaq-100 Pre-Market Indicator flat at 1639.9.
GLOBAL SENTIMENT
Nikkei up 1.4%
Hang Seng up 0.1%
FTSE-100 down 0.4%
PRE-MARKET SECTOR WATCH
(+,-) Large cap tech: mixed
(+) Chip stocks: firmer
(+,-) Small cap stocks: mixed
(+,-) Drug stocks: mixed
(+) Software stocks: mostly firmer
(+,-) Internet stocks: mixed
(+,-) Financial stocks: mixed
(-,+) Auto stocks: mixed
(-,+) Airline stocks: mixed
(+,-) Retail stocks: mixed
UPSIDE MOVERS
(+) ALU (+12.9%) inks contract with China Telecom, gets analyst upgrade.
(+) AVII (+4.3%) reports positive Phase I study results in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
(+) KIRK (+11%) swings to Q2 profit.
(+) WSM (+13.8%) beats with Q2 results, revenue guidance straddles Street view.
(+) HGSI (+11%) adding to gains seen on M&A speculation.
(+) CSIQ (+5.8%) inks development rights deal.
(+) CAE (+3.1%) inks military deals.
(+) PPHM (+7.1%) gets grant for hemorrhagic fevers antibody studies.
(+) RZ (+12.3%) says electric Hummer H3E drives over 50 miles on battery.
(+) DLTR (+4.4%) beats with Q2 results, guides above Street view.
(+) CRME (+4.2%) says management to buy stock.
DOWNSIDE MOVERS
(-) TC (-5%) selling shares.
