Before the bell 1-22-07: Stock futures higher as tech gives hope

Posted Jan 22nd 2007 7:58AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Before the Bell, Earnings Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Deals, Pfizer (PFE), Intel (INTC), Citigroup Inc. (C), Advanced Micro Dev (AMD), American Express (AXP), Boeing Co (BA), Sun Microsystems (JAVA), Texas Instruments (TXN), Economic Data

Stock futures are higher in early morning trade, pointing to a similar start for the stock markets.

Today the market begins a heavy week of earnings scheduled, but it will be relatively light in terms of economic data. Undoubtedly, investors will focus on earnings.

At 10:00 a.m. Eastern, Leading Indicators should be released. Consensus calls for a 0.2% increase, up from a 0.1% the month before.

Oil rose toward $53 a barrel today following colder weather in the world's biggest heating oil market, the Northeast U.S. It is also possible the $50 price support spurred a fresh round of investor buying.
The dollar rose against both the yen and the euro today.

In corporate news:

The biggest news item this morning comes from Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ:SUNW) and Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC). According to sources, Sun will most likely announce a partnership with Intel. Sun will use Intel microprocessors and Intel will endorse Sun Solaris operating system. Sun has scheduled a news conference this morning. While Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE:AMD) will continue to sell chips to Sun, it will be affected by the deal.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) announced it will buy ABN AMRO Mortgage Group, an originator and servicer of U.S. prime residential mortgage loans that is a unit of LaSalle Bank Corp and ABN AMRO Bank NV.

Pfizer Inc, (NYSE:PFE) reported quarterly earnings this morning. In the fourth-quarter, Pfizer earned $9.45 billion, or $1.32 per share, compared with $2.73 billion, or 37 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding special items, EPS were 43 cents per share. Analysts, on average, expected 42 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.

Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA) was downgraded to market perform from outperform at Wachovia Securities.

Also reporting today:
American Express Co. (NYSE:AXP) is expected to report during trading hours. Analysts expect earnings of 77 cents per share.
Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE:TXN) will report after the close. Analysts are expecting earnings of 38 cents per share.

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