U.S. stocks head for higher open after Wal-Mart boosts forecast
NEW YORK -- Wall Street headed for a higher open today after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. raised its profit forecast and companies including PepsiCo. released stronger-than-expected earnings.
Stock futures, already higher after strength in Asian and European markets, advanced after investors began receiving a rush of corporate data. But beyond company news, Wall Street was awaiting Commerce Department figures on the August international trade deficit and September export and import prices.
The rise in stock futures follows a follows a drop in the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 index Wednesday after corporate news stirred concerns about how well companies' profits are faring.
Early Thursday, Dow futures rose 81, or 0.57 percent, to 14,223. S&P 500 futures rose 10.40, or 0.66 percent, to 1,583.40, while Nasdaq 100 index futures advanced 12.25, or 0.56 percent, to 2,208.75.
Bonds fell, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rising to 4.67 percent from 4.65 percent late Wednesday. The dollar was lower against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.
Light, sweet crude rose 92 cents to $82.22 in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average closed up 1.64 percent after a rating agency upgraded the country's debt. Stocks in Europe also rose amid upbeat sentiment about access to credit and after Telefonica SA, the Spanish telecommunications company, said it would pay a one euro dividend. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.07 percent, Germany's DAX index advanced 0.94 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.56 percent.
In corporate news, Wal-Mart raised its third-quarter profit forecast even after the world's largest retailer reported its same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, rose a weaker-than-expected 1.4 percent in September.
Wal-Mart, one of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow industrials, recently rose 3.75 percent in premarket electronic trading.
PepsiCo, the world's second-largest soft drink maker, reported its third-quarter earnings rose 17 percent amid double-digit growth in international sales. The stock was up about 1.9 percent in premarket trading.
Medtronic Inc.'s drug-coated stent Endeavor moved past a big regulatory hurdle as a panel of government experts recommended the Food and Drug Administration approve the artery-opening device. The stock gained 2.1 percent in premarket trading.