U.S. stock-index futures climbed as Ford Motor Co. reported profit that beat analysts’ projections, while Baidu Inc. and Broadcom Corp. forecast better-than- estimated sales.
Ford, the second-largest U.S. carmaker, increased 2.4 percent. Baidu, the owner of China’s most popular Internet search engine, and Broadcom, the supplier of communications chips for Apple Inc.’s mobile devices, soared more than 7 percent.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index expiring in September climbed 0.3 percent to 1,337.2 at 7:45 a.m. in New York. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 22 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,572. The S&P 500 fell 0.6 percent yesterday as Republicans and Democrats failed to find common ground over an agreement to raise the federal debt limit.
“Earnings continued to be strong in the U.S.,” Jim Reid, a global strategist at Deutsche Bank AG in London, wrote in an e-mail to clients. “The latest developments on the U.S. debt ceiling talks seem to have moved to center stage in terms of being the macro driver this week. President Obama’s address overnight offered little news other than another confirmation that a bipartisan agreement is not closer to being agreed.”
Republicans and Democrats are wrangling over separate plans to raise the federal debt limit and avoid a government default. President Barack Obama, in an address from the White House, said he remains confident that the stalemate over raising the debt ceiling can be resolved if both sides compromise.
Pay Bills
The U.S. Treasury Department may still have enough cash to pay the government’s bills for days or even weeks if Congress fails to increase the debt limit before the Aug. 2 deadline, say analysts at UBS AG and Barclays Plc.
The S&P 500 erased 81 percent of its loss since April 29 through last week as corporate profits topped analysts’ estimates. Since July 11, 82 percent of S&P 500 companies that have released quarterly results beat projections, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Between July 20 and July 22, analysts boosted estimates for S&P 500 income during the final three months of 2011 by 2.3 percent, Bloomberg data show. That’s the biggest two-day increase for the quarter after the current one in data going back to 2006.
Economic Data
A report at 10 a.m. in Washington may show that purchases of new U.S. homes stagnated in June, indicating housing continues to languish two years into the economic recovery. Sales ran at a 320,000 annual pace in June after a 319,000 rate in May, economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecast. House prices declined from a year earlier in May and consumer confidence fell in July to a nine-month low, other data may show.
Ford climbed 2.4 percent to $13.48 in early New York trading after reporting earnings for the second quarter that topped estimates. Earnings-per share of 65 cents beat the average estimate for EPS of 61 cents in a Bloomberg survey.
Baidu climbed 7.1 percent to $167.65 in New York pre-market trading. The company said third-quarter sales will be at least $611.1 million, compared with the average analyst forecast for $568.4 million, Bloomberg data show.
Broadcom rallied 8.9 percent to $38 in early New York trading after forecasting third-quarter sales that topped analysts’ predictions on booming demand for Apple’s iPhone and iPad.
Netflix Inc. tumbled 7.6 percent to $260 after its third- quarter sales and profit forecast missed estimates and the company said a price increase was crimping new-user signups.
To contact the reporter on this story: Adam Haigh in London at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Rummer at arummer@bloomberg.net
