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Stock futures were higher this morning, indicating U.S. stocks could continue yesterday's momentum with another up day. Investors await to hear Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony and assessment of the economy later today. An hour before the opening bell, weekly labor market data will be released. After Wednesday's strong retail report, this data would be viewed in light of consumer strength.On Wednesday, U.S. stocks surged following a surprising rise in retail sales in January. This third straight day of gains finished with the Dow industrials adding 178 points, or 1.45%, the S&P 500 rising 18 points, or 1.36%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rallying 53 points, or 2.32%.
At 8:30 a.m. EST, the Labor Department will report the weekly unemployment claims figures. While the trends have been implying an increase in overall claims in the market, pointing to a less healthy employment market and unemployment levels, the strong retail data reported yesterday could suggest a higher comfort level with consumers about spending.
Also at that time, December trade balance will be released.
In the first hour of trading, Fed Chairman Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson are slated to testify before the Senate Banking Committee.
Overseas, stocks rallied around the world. Following news that Japan's economy grew faster than forecast, Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped 4.27%, its biggest advance in nearly six years.
As earnings season is winding down, corporate news has been a little more sparse these days.
Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) reported a 54% increase in fourth-quarter profit to $602 million, or 20 cents per share, on solid revenue gains as customers spent more for cable TV. Analysts were expecting profit of 17 cents per share. Comcast also said it will start paying a 6.25-cent quarterly dividend starting at the end of April and start a share buy back program.
After two days of the rumor buzzing around the blogosphere, it reached mainstream media Wednesday. Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) may be exploring an alliance with News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) to rescue it from Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT)'s takeover. Microsoft's original bid valued Yahoo! at $44.6 billion, or $31 per share. Yahoo is believed to want at least $40 per share, or about $56 billion.
Baidu.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) reported a 79% fourth-quarter profit rise to 219.8 million yuan ($30.5 million), or 6.32 yuan (87 U.S. cents) per share on strong revenue from online marketing. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected a profit of 72 cents per share on $77.1 million in revenue. RBC upgraded BIDU from Sector Perform to Outperform, raising its target price from $361 to $400. BIDU shares are up over 9% in premarket trading.
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