Shares of oil giant BP fall in premarket trading; Pfizer results on tap
By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock futures rose Tuesday, as European and Asian markets also posted gains, with traders awaiting earnings from Pfizer Inc. and other corporate giants.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJH11 11,887, +47.00, +0.40%) gained 44 points to 11,884 and S&P 500 futures (SPH11 1,291, +8.20, +0.64%) rose 6.40 points to 1,288.80.
The blue-chip Dow industrials (DJIA 11,892, +68.23, +0.58%) rose 2.7% last month, its best January performance since 1997.
“It looks as though the market is beginning to focus on the economic data and earnings,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners.
For now, market participants are putting the situation in Egypt — which has been rocked by anti-government protests for days — “on the back burner,” he said.
Investors are awaiting another batch of earnings reports.
Blue-chip drug giant Pfizer (PFE 18.07, -0.15, -0.82%) is expected to report fourth-quarter earnings of 46 cents a share.
Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM 34.72, +2.05, +6.28%) , Cummins (CMI 108.59, +2.71, +2.56%) and McGraw-Hill Cos. (MHP 39.00, +0.02, +0.05%) are set to release financial results as well. U.S. car makers are due to report January sales.
After the U.S. stock market opens, at 10 a.m. Eastern time, the Institute for Supply Management’s report on manufacturing activity for January and data on construction spending for December will be released.
Cardillo expects the ISM data to show continued growth in the manufacturing sector.
“Europe is higher, the dollar is lower and that also invites some risk taking,” Cardillo said.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index (ST:STOXX600 282.66, +2.61, +0.93%) rose 0.9% in midday trading, buoyed by strong economic data, including a decline in the number of unemployed in Germany.
The dollar index (DXY 77.43, -0.31, -0.40%) , which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, dropped 0.5% to 77.355.
The dollar slipped 0.7% against the Japanese currency to 81.51 yen.
BP shares fall
Shares of BP PLC (BP 46.59, -0.88, -1.85%) (UK:BP. 483.60, -1.25, -0.26%) slipped 2.3% in premarket trading, retreating after the oil giant’s fourth-quarter adjusted profit came in short of market expectations. BP’s net profit rose 30% and the firm said it would resume dividend payments.
Shares of Baidu Inc. (BIDU 118.50, +9.87, +9.09%) rallied more than 7% in premarket trade. Late Monday, the Chinese Internet-search firm reported fourth-quarter results that beat expectations.
Asian stocks finished mostly higher overnight, with China’s Shanghai Composite index gaining 0.3%. Traders digested two separate Chinese PMI surveys, which painted a mixed picture of the nation’s manufacturing sector.
In the commodity markets, crude-oil futures fell 62 cents to $91.57 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex.
