Wall Street watchers can be excused for feeling a little whipsawed this week. After watching stocks lose ground early in the week, they roared back Thursday, riding high on a bevy of upbeat earnings reports. That enthusiasm remains partially on display this morning with two of the three major U.S. stock indexes showing a positive opening ahead of the morning bell.
At about 7 a.m. ET, the Nasdaq Composite Index and S&P 500 were slightly higher, while the Dow Jones industrial average was down by about 4 points. The Dow gained 1.3% Thursday to close the session at 10,081.31, led by the strong earnings reports from five of the benchmark index's 30 component stocks.
Another stock among the Dow, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), will report earnings today before markets open in New York. Having on Thursday unveiled the latest version of its Windows operating system and opened its first-ever retail store in Scottsdale, Ariz., stock futures show shares of the software giant heading higher ahead of Friday's market-open.
Whirlpool Corp. (NYSE: WHR) said Friday its third-quarter earnings fell by nearly half to $87 million, or $1.15 a share, from $163 million, or $2.15 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenues slipped 8% to $4.5 billion. Still, the company far exceeded analyst estimates of 77 cents a share. Whirlpool said earnings were affected by a one-time $43 million charge to settle anti-trust charges in Brazil. The world's largest appliance manufacturer also raised its full-year earnings guidance to $4.25 a share, from the previously stated range of $3.50 to $4 a share.
Amid earnings season, Microsoft and Whirlpool of course aren't the only U.S. companies to report profits today, but look for the flow of earnings statements to be substantially fewer than recent days. Among the other notable U.S. stocks to report today, Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON); Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC); and Fortune Brands Inc. (NYSE: FO).
On the economic front, the National Association or Realtors reports existing home sales at 10 a.m. ET. The report is expected to show about a 5% climb in September re-sales as home buyers rushed to take advantage of an $8,000 first-time home buyer credit, set to expire Nov. 30.
In commodity markets, oil futures moved higher in Asian trading, hitting $81.78 a barrel for December delivery and heading towards a fresh one-year high. The weak dollar is blamed for oil's continued climb.
In overseas stock markets, most Asian markets ended Friday's session higher, with Hong Kong's Hang Sang index climbing 1.7% to end at $379.21. Australia's All Ordinaries index rose nearly 1% to 4,859.70. Following Asia's lead, most markets were higher midday Friday in Europe as well. Britain's FTSE 100 was up more than 1% to 5,262, while the French CAC and German DAX were each higher by about 0.8%.
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