(By Balaseshan) U.S. stock-index futures pointed to a modestly higher
opening on the Wall Street after the President Barack Obama's State of
the Union address highlighted proposed spending on infrastructure and
environmental projects.
Mini Dow Industrial Average futures rose 21 points to 13,994. The
Nasdaq futures advanced 6.75 points to 2,767.50. Standard and Poor's 500
futures gained 2.90 points to 1,519.10.
Obama delivered his State
of the Union address Tuesday and the President proposed spending on
infrastructure and environmental projects. Obama presented a proposal to
raise the national minimum wage to $9 an hour and urged a resolution to
the "sequester" or automatic spending cuts that will take effect in
just two weeks.
"The State of the Union address by the president should not be
impactful to the markets," an analyst in the Reuters report had said.
On
the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department reported January
retail sales and core retail sales rose 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent,
respectively. Core sales topped economists expectations of a 0.1 percent
rise, while retail sales came in line. Core retail sales measures the
change in the total value of sales at the retail level in the U.S.,
excluding automobiles.
A government data showed that import prices unexpectedly rose 0.6
percent in January after a revised 0.5 percent fall in December, while
economists expected a gain of 0.7 percent. Export prices also added 0.3
percent after a 0.1 percent decline in November.
On Tuesday, U.S. stocks ended on a mixed note ahead of President Barack Obama's State of the Union address.
Hot Stocks Of The Day: GE, CMCSA, CMCSK, DE, DF, WU, CLF, RAX
General
Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) gained 4.03 percent and Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ:
CMCSA) surged 7.90 percent in premarket. GE has agreed to sell its
balance 49 percent common equity interest in the NBCUniversal joint
venture and related assets to Comcast for about $18.1 billion.
Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSK) soared 7.77 percent after the company posted a
18 percent increase in quarterly earnings on higher broadcast business
growth and a rise in internet services. The company also lifted its
dividend by 20 percent and plans to repurchase $2.0 billion of its stock
this year.
Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) posted a 22 percent jump in quarterly
earnings on higher sales of agriculture machines and equipment
operations. Results exceeded Street's expectations.
Dean Foods Co.
(NYSE: DF) swung to a quarterly profit on strong sales growth at
WhiteWave-Alpro segment and higher commodity costs at Fresh Dairy
Direct. Results exceeded Street's expectations.
Western Union Co. (NYSE: WU) fell 3.49 percent in premarket after the
global payment services provider posted a 47 percent drop in quarterly
earnings due to higher costs and expenses as well as a decline in
consumer-to-consumer revenue. However, results exceeded Street's
expectations.
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) plunged 12.73 percent in
premarket after the iron ore producer have slipped to a quarterly loss
due hefty charges. In addition, the company slashed its quarterly
dividend by 76 percent.
Rackspace Hosting Inc. (NYSE: RAX) dropped 11.07 percent in premarket
after the company posted lower than expected fourth quarter results.
Global Markets
European
markets traded higher, with Germany's DAX up 0.63 percent to trade at
7,708.36. France's CAC40 added 0.25 percent to trade at 3,695.82. The
U.K.'s FTSE 100 rose 0.10 percent to trade at 6,344.57.
Asia markets ended mixed. The Shanghai Composite Index added 0.57
percent to end at $2,432.40. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.16 percent
to close at 23,215.16. Japan's Nikkei 225 slipped 1.04 percent to end at
11,251.41. India's Sensex closed at 19,608.08, up 0.24 percent.
Commodity & Currency Scan
Ahead of the
opening bell, crude oil futures traded 0.34 percent higher at $97.84 per
barrel. Gold futures inched 0.24 percent lower to $1,647.39 per ounce.
In
the currency market, the euro rose 0.19 percent against the U.S. dollar
to 1.3479, while the British pound fell 0.64 percent to 1.5563. The
dollar slid 0.04 percent against the Japanese yen at 93.4400.