Goldman Sachs, Bank of America due to report earnings
By William L. Watts, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock-index futures were mostly lower Tuesday, feeling modest pressure after Apple Inc. offered a conservative outlook for the current quarter, while investors braced for another heavy round of earnings.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJZ10 11,004, -41.00, -0.37%) were up 3 points to 11,048, while S&P 500 futures (SPZ10 1,171, -7.40, -0.63%) declined 1.9 points to 1,176.3. Futures on the Nasdaq 100 (NDZ10 2,070, -24.50, -1.17%) dropped 21 points to 2,073.50.
Apple (AAPL 307.67, -10.33, -3.25%) blew away Wall Street forecasts for its fiscal fourth quarter as earnings soared on strong iPhone sales. Sales of the iPad, however, fell short of expectations, and the company offered a conservative forecast for the current quarter when it reported results after Monday’s closing bell.
Also in the technology sector, IBM (IBM 138.28, -4.55, -3.19%) reported late Monday that third-quarter profit rose to $3.6 billion, or 2.82 a share, from $3.2 billion, or $2.40 a share, in the same period last year. Revenue rose 3% to $24.3 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet Research had produced a consensus forecast for earnings of $2.76 a share on $24.2 billion in revenue.
Banking giants Goldman Sachs Group (GS 154.00, +0.30, +0.20%) and Bank of America (BAC 12.33, -0.01, -0.08%) are set to release earnings before the opening bell Tuesday. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 62.71, -1.15, -1.80%) , Coca-Cola (KO 60.27, +0.27, +0.45%) and Yahoo Inc. (YHOO 15.75, -0.18, -1.10%) are among a slew of other firms also expected to unveil results on Tuesday morning.
The economic calendar remains light. Investors will get data on September U.S. housing starts at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA 11,144, +80.91, +0.73%) rose 80.91 points Monday to close at 11,143.69, its highest close since May 3. The S&P 500 index (SPX 1,185, +8.52, +0.72%) ended at 1,184.71, up 8.52 points. The Nasdaq Composite (COMP 2,481, +11.89, +0.48%) advanced 11.89 points, or 0.5%, to 2,480.66.
The dollar remained on the rise after U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the U.S. government wasn’t seeking to devalue the currency. The dollar index (DXY 77.70, +0.76, +0.99%) , a measure of the unit against a basket of major currencies, rose 0.4% to 77.265. The euro was 0.1% lower at $1.3934. The greenback rose 0.2% against the yen to trade at ¥81.39.
Gold futures lost ground as the dollar continued its rebound, falling $3.60 to trade at $1.368.50 an ounce in electronic trade.
Oil futures were also lower in electronic dealings, falling 32 cents to $82.76 a barrel.
