Exxon Mobil, Motorola, Colgate-Palmolive all due to report
By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
MADRID (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock futures were pointing to a higher open for markets on Thursday ahead of earnings reports from Exxon Mobil, Motorola and Dow Chemical.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJZ10 11,100, +28.00, +0.25%) rose 26 points to 11,098, while those for the S&P 500 index (SPZ10 1,183, +4.50, +0.38%) advanced 3.4 points to 1,182.10.
Wall Street finished on a mostly weaker note on Wednesday, as the market began to fret over the scope and potential for another round of quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve, which holds a key meeting next week.
Economic data on Thursday include weekly U.S. jobless claims, due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.
On the corporate front, Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM 66.41, +0.74, +1.13%) , Motorola Inc. (MOT 8.50, +0.41, +5.07%) , Dow Chemical Co. (DOW 31.50, +0.29, +0.93%) , Colgate-Palmolive Co. (CL 74.55, -0.95, -1.26%) and 3M Co. (MMM 88.95, -1.42, -1.57%) are among companies scheduled to report earnings ahead of the opening bell.
Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS 45.91, +4.85, +11.81%) could be in focus after the firm reported better-than-expected results.
Upbeat results after the market close from Symantec Corp. (SYMC 16.79, +0.99, +6.27%) could lift shares of the security software maker as well.
Other potential movers include Sourcefire Inc. (FIRE 26.25, -4.74, -15.30%) .Shares of the network security software group sold off in late trade after it issued a weak outlook.
Shoe retailer Skechers USA Inc. (SKX 20.62, -3.01, -12.74%) could see pressure after saying in its third-quarter report that it had more inventory than initially expected.
European stocks rose. Gains for Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A 63.35, +0.60, +0.96%) (RDS.B 62.58, +0.42, +0.68%) (UK:RDSA 1,987, +9.50, +0.48%) (UK:RDSB 1,958, +4.50, +0.23%) helped prop up London markets after the oil giant reported a profit that beat forecasts.
Strong results from drug firm Sanofi-Aventis (SNY 34.62, +0.24, +0.70%) (FR:SAN 49.85, +0.32, +0.64%) also boosted sentiment.
In the currency markets, the U.S. dollar fell against its major rivals, with the dollar index (DXY 77.51, -0.64, -0.82%) trading down 0.5% to 77.741.
Gold for December delivery rose $3.40 to $1,326 an ounce in electronic trading on Globex. Oil futures were little changed at $82 a barrel.
