U.S. stock futures were higher Tuesday morning, after stocks on Monday plummeted to lows not seen since in years as the Dow closed below 10,000 for the first time in four years. After Australia's central bank cut interest rates by the largest amount speculation regarding an interest rate cuts from central banks around the world helped alleviate some worries. Meanwhile, oil rebounded to around $90 a barrel Tuesday in Asia after plunging to an 8-month low Monday, and Bank of America issued a profit warning. Alcoa will unofficially kick off earnings season today.Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) shares are trading 9.6% lower in pre-market action after it said Monday its third-quarter profit slid 68% to 15 cents a shares, below analysts' estimates of 61 cents a share. BAC also announced a dividend cut and raise $10 billion in stock offering. Analysts from Robert W. Baird and Deutsche Bank proceeded to cut their own estimates.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) shares are jumping 18% in pre-market trade after it confirmed plans to spin off its manufacturing operations to a new joint venture, Foundry Co., with an Abu Dhabi investment firm. The other part will be focused on designing microprocessors.
Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) will unofficially kick off earnings season when it reports quarterly results Tuesday after the close. Analysts polled by FactSet Research are looking for Alcoa to post profit, on average, of 54 cents a share with total revenue of $7.27 billion. Aluminum prices have pulled back recently and analysts have been lowering their targets.
Yum Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) is also scheduled to report earnings today, estimates call for a profit of 54 cents a share in the third quarter.
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) -- Techcrunch posted Monday that an AOL-Yahoo merger could happen this month. According to the blog, Yahoo! would acquire AOL's content, services and advertising but not its dial up business. Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), which apparently is pushing for the deal, would inject money for a third in the combined entity. All this according to unnamed sources Techcrunch blog claims are close to the negotiations.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) - the stock was actually one of the few that saw gains Monday after Friday a rumor Jobs had a heart attack pummelled the stock down. On Monday, analysts said Apple doesn't need Jobs any more.
Analyst calls:
- IBM (NYSE: IBM) was downgraded by Barclays Capital from Overweight to Equal Weight.
- Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) was downgraded by Jefferies & Co and Roth Capital from Buy to Underperform and Hold respectively.
- Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) were both upgarded by Morgan Stanley to Overweight, citing valuation.
- Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) was downgraded from Neutral to Underperform by Merrill Lynch due to economic climate.
- EMC Corp (NYSE: EMC) was downgraded by Barclays from Overweight to Equalweight.
- First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) Goldman Sachs from Buy to Sell. Shares are down 13%.
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