TH: Stock Futures Flat as Wall Street Waits for Fed Chair Yellen
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- It's another muted start for stocks on Tuesday with markets in wait-and-see mode ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's remarks to Congress.
S&P 500 futures were flat, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 0.08%, and Nasdaq futures fell 0.05%.
Yellen will give her semi-annual monetary policy testimony to the Senate banking committee on Tuesday and the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday. Investors will watch closely for any hints from Yellen of a rate hike time-line. Though Fed minutes released last week suggested a more dovish turn for the central bank, Wall Street will dissect Yellen's remarks to determine whether a June hike is still in the mix.
"Fed Chair Janet Yellen's ... [will offer] traders a new perspective from the Fed in the wake of the strong January jobs report, which saw payrolls expand by over 1 million jobs over the past three months alone," said Christopher Vecchio, currency analyst at DailyFX.
Greece sent outlines of its proposed economic reforms to eurozone finance ministers, only just meeting a midnight deadline. Greece's creditors, including the International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank, will now review the reforms and, if they are approved, will allow Greece a four-month extension to its bailout package.
European markets were little changed. France's CAC 40 and Germany's DAX were flat, while the FTSE 100 in London added 0.15%. The Athens Stock Exchange jumped 8.2%.
Trading of crude oil appeared to have stablized under $50 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate was up 0.4% to $49.65 a barrel. Oil saw a brief rally on Monday after the Financial Times reported the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries could hold an emergency meeting which could lead to a cut in production. The oil cartel isn't scheduled to meet until June.
Shares of the world's largest home improvement chain, Home Depot (HD) , climbed 3.4% in premarket trading after the company beat profit estimates with a 36% earnings increase to $1.38 billion, or $1.05 a share. The retailer also said it would buy back $18 billion of shares.
BHP Billiton (BHP) jumped nearly 5% despite a 47% drop in profit over the latter half of 2014. The oil giant reported profit of $4.27 billion over the six months to December, nearly half a year earlier but exceeding analysts' estimates of $3.59 billion.
Comcast (CMCSA - Get Report) was slightly lower after narrowly missing forecasts on its bottom line. The cable giant earned 77 cents over its fourth quarter, short by a penny, though revenue surged nearly 5% to $17.73 billion.
Macy's (M - Get Report) fell more than 1% after sales fell short of estimates. The department store retailer reported an increase in revenue of 1.8% to $9.37 billion, $30 million below expectations. Comparable-store sales increased 1.4%.
Toll Brothers (TOL) surged 4.5% after beating profit estimates, reporting a 32% gain in revenue, and boosting guidance. The homebuilder expects 5,200 home deliveries over the year at the low-end of guidance, 200 above previous estimates.
