By ALAN R. ELLIOTT, INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted 09:08 AM ET
Featured Stocks
AZO
Autozone Inc
MDT
Medtronic Inc
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Stock futures trended higher Tuesday as the market eyed a rebound from Monday's brisk sell off.
Dow futures added to early gains to go up 40 points ahead of the bell. Nasdaq 100 futures rose 7.25 points and S&P 500 futures climbed 5.2 points.
AutoZone (AZO) gained 4% in pre-market trade after easily topping fiscal third-quarter analyst views. Earnings rose 28% from the prior year, while Revenue gained 9%. The auto parts chain reported gross margins of 51.2%, up from 50.7% the prior year.
AutoZone was testing support at its 10-week moving average for the first time since clearing a third-stage cup-with-handle base in March
Medtronic (MDT) slipped more than 2% ahead of the bell. The maker of implantable cardiac aids logged fiscal Q4 earnings of 90 cents a share, 2 cents below Thomson Reuters estimates.
Medtronic shares dropped more than 2% in strong trade Monday. The stock broke out of a seven-week cup base in April. It ended Monday 10% below its March 2010 high.
Elsewhere, oil prices ticked higher, but held within $97 to $99 a barrel. Gold crept above $1,517 an ounce and silver remained just above $35 an ounce. The dollar drifted lower as the euro rebounded from Monday's sharp dive.
On the economic front, new home sales data are due out at 10 a.m. EDT.
Overseas, the Shanghai composite slipped 0.3%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.1%, while Tokyo's Nikkei 225 ended 0.2% higher.
Europe's markets held moderate gains in early afternoon trade, led by mining and commodities issues. London's FTSE 100 was up 0.5%. The CAC-40 in Paris climbed 0.3% and the DAX index in Frankfurt gained 0.7%.