(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)US stock futures climbed on Tuesday as strong earnings from Apple and Texas Instruments buoyed investor optimism about the corporate performance.
At 8:26 am ET, the S&P 500 futures gained 5.60 points to 1096.70. The Dow Jones Industrial average futures rose 51 points to 10062. The Nasdaq Composite futures advanced 18.50 points to 1768.75.
Early on Tuesday, Dow component Caterpillar (NYSE:
CAT) said that its third-quarter profit plunged 53% to $404 million, or 64 cents a share, from $868 million, or $1.39 per share, during the same quarter a year earlier. Revenue slid 44% to $7.3 billion.
Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE:
KO) said Tuesday that its third-quarter profit climbed to $1.896 billion from $1.89 billion. Per-share amount was unchanged at 81 cents a share.
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:
PFE) reported Tuesday that its third-quarter profit rose 26% to $2.88 billion, or 43 cents a share, from $2.28 billion, or 34 cents a share, in the comparable quarter last year. Excluding acquisition and restructuring-related charges, earnings fell to 51 cents from 62 cents. Revenue slipped 2.9% to $11.62 billion.
DuPont Co. (NYSE:
DD) announced that third-quarter net income rose 11% to $409 million, or 45 cents a share, from $367 million, or 40 cents, in the prior- year. Quarterly revenue decreased to $6.16 billion compared with $7.72 billion.
Late on Monday, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:
AAPL) reported that its fiscal fourth-quarter net income jumped 47% to $1.67 billion, or $1.82 a share, compared with $1.14 billion, or $1.26 a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue surged to $9.87 billion from $7.9 billion.Apple sold 7.4 million iPhone ands 3.1 million Macs during the third quarter.
Texas Instruments (NYSE:
TXN) said Monday that its third quarter net income dropped 4% to $538 million, or 42 cents per share, from $563 million, or 43 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue slumped 15 percent to $2.88 billion from $3.39 billion.
On the economic front, a release by Department of Labor on Tuesday showed U.S. producer prices fell 0.6% in September while core producer prices declined 0.1% in the month. Economists expected producer price index to remain unchanged in September.
A Department of Commerce release on Tuesday showed housing starts rose in September to seasonally adjusted annual rate of 590,000. Building Permits dropped 1.2% to annual rate of 573,000. Economists had projected housing starts to increase to an annual rate of 595,000 and building permits to rise to 610,000 in September.
US stocks climbed, sending benchmark indexes to highest point in over a year, as a weak dollar and higher commodity prices boosted investor sentiment.Shares also rallied amid positive outlook for corporate earnings.
European stocks gained in afternoon trade. At 13:04 pm London time, the UK FTSE remained flat at 5,281.55. The German DAX and French CAC increased 0.20% and 0.27% respectively.
Asian stocks finished higher. The Nikkei 225 rose 100.33 points or 0.98% to $10,336.84. The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong climbed 184.50 points or 0.83% to 22,384.96.
NYMEX crude oil for November delivery dropped 55 cents or 0.7% to $79.06 a barrel in electronic trading.
Disclosure: Author doesn't own any of the stocks discussed here.
