Stock futures briefly blipped higher in the immediate wake of two
reports offering more evidence the economy is mending. But futures have
resumed narrowly mixed trading since. Wall Street is showing some
reluctance to extend its latest run, covering eight of the last nine
sessions. The tech-heavy Nasdaq futures are lagging.
The dollar gained after the data sending crude futures down $0.51 at $72 a barrel and gold down $1.60 at $1,018.60 an ounce.
A government report showed new construction of U.S. houses rose
1.5% in August to a seasonally adjusted 598,000 annualized units,
roughly in line with the 600,000 pace expected and the highest level
since November. Building permits increased 2.7% to 579,000, also the
highest level since November.
Also reported this morning, the number of people filing for state
unemployment benefits fell 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 545,000 last
week.
Tech shares are likely to join the tide of the broader market, but earnings from a key sector name may limit the upside.
Oracle (
ORCL) fell in evening trading and is down around 3% so far
this morning. The company reported Q1 non-GAAP EPS of $0.30 per share,
in line with the analyst mean on Thomson Reuters. Revenue was $5.1 bln,
below the Street view of $5.24 bln. Oracle said on its conference call
it expects Q2 non-GAAP EPS of $0.35 to $0.36 per share. The Street view
is $0.36 per share.
In other earnings:
Discover Financial (
DFS) is firmer after it reports Q3 net income
of $1.07 per share, including about $287 mln related to the
Visa/MasterCard antitrust litigation settlement, up from $0.70 per
share in the year ago quarter. The Street view was a loss of $0.11 per
share, but this does not look to be comparable.
Pier 1 Imports (
PIR) gains this morning after the retailer says its
fiscal Q2 loss narrowed to $0.17 from a loss of $0.34 a year earlier
and the Thomson Reuters mean analyst estimate for a loss of $0.22.
Sales fell 10.6% to $286.7 million and comparable sales for the period
were down 7.6%. The Street looked for total sales of $281.9 million.
FedEx (
FDX) declines following its report of Q1 earnings at $0.58
per share, down from $1.23 per share in the year ago quarter but in
line with Street estimates.
