Stock futures have put up solid gains throughout pre-market trading
and modestly extended their move in the wake of the ADP private sector
employment report. It showed a slower rate of job losses and lifts some
hope for a similar result in Friday's Labor Dept. release. For now, the
market is awaiting the 2:15 p.m. Federal Reserve announcement as the
central bank wraps up a two-day meeting.
Investors have been relatively risk-averse over the past several
sessions, particularly since the averages hit new 2009 highs in October
only to be followed up with inconsistent economic data. But bulls are
showing some willingness to buy at current prices. That was evident in
Tuesday's action, when sharp early declines were turned into a narrowly
mixed finish for the major averages.
Stocks wrapped up near even Tuesday when Warren Buffett's $44
billion bet on railroad operator Burlington Northern Santa Fe was
offset by weakness in the chip sector on a Morgan Stanley downgrade and
news that Johnson & Johnson (
JNJ) was cutting up to 7% of its
workforce. Commodity gains helped materials and industrials stocks
Tuesday.
Commodities are on the rise again today and should help related
sectors. Gold has reached a new high of $1,094 and looks on a track to
hit $1,100. Crude is nearing $80.
Private-sector firms in the U.S. cut 203,000 jobs in October,
according to the ADP employment report released Wednesday. It was the
fewest jobs lost since July 2008. In September, a revised 227,000 jobs
were lost compared with the 254,000 originally reported.
Still on tap is the Institute for Supply Manufacturing's non-manufacturing index for October.
But the marquee event is the conclusion of the two-day Fed meeting;
an announcement is expected around 2:15 p.m. ET. The central bank panel
is not expected to budge interest rates from their near-zero level but
may begin to signal the timing and scope for removal of these
extraordinary policy measures and the Fed's assessment of current
economic conditions. A few global central banks, Australia for one,
have begun to tighten historically low policy.
Earnings continue to trickle in. Cisco Systems (
CSCO) is counted among a host of post-bell earnings releases.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters are expecting the company to report a profit of $0.31 per share on revenue of $8.74 billion.
U.S. PRE-MARKET INDICATORS
-Dow Industrial futures up 69 points.
-S&P 500 futures up 5 points.
-Nasdaq 100 futures up 8 points.
-Nasdaq-100 Pre-Market Indicator up 9.47 at 1688.67.
GLOBAL SENTIMENT
Nikkei up 0.4%
Hang Seng up 1.8%
FTSE-100 up 0.9%
PRE-MARKET SECTOR WATCH
(+) Large cap tech: mostly firmer
(+) Chip stocks: firmer
(+,-) Drug stocks: mixed
(+) Software stocks: firmer
(+) Internet stocks: firmer
(+) Financial stocks: firmer
(+,-) Auto stocks: mixed
(-,+) Airline stocks: mixed
(-,+) Retail stocks: mixed
UPSIDE MOVERS
(+) ABK (+26.1%) swings to profit.
(+) GRMN (+4.3%) beats with Q3.
(+) ACAS (+17.7%) reaches deal with lenders.
(+) CMCSA (+2%) beats with earnings, meets with revenue.
(+) IRE (+19.6%) jumps despite lower profit, says it may need new aid.
(+) DRIV (+4.6%) beats with Q3, offers mixed guidance.
(+) GNVC (+40%) gets FDA orphan status for TNFerade.
(+) HIG (+6.3%) continues extended-hours gain after Q3 beat, raised guidance.
DOWNSIDE MOVERS
(-) STEC (-31%) continues evening slide after company beats with Q3, but guides for Q4 below Street.
(-) VG (-7.9%) revenue declines.
(-) TRLG (-13.4%) misses with Q3, guides below Street.
