By Peter Levring - Jul 17, 2012 2:56 PM GMT+0400
U.S. stock futures rose, signaling the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will rebound from its seventh drop in eight days, as investors awaited Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s testimony to Congress on the economy.
Yahoo (YHOO)! Inc. advanced 2.6 percent in early New York trading after the company that owns the biggest U.S. web-portal named Marissa Mayer as chief executive officer. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX) climbed 1.2 percent in Germany.
U.S. stock futures rose, signaling the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will rebound from its seventh drop in eight days, as investors awaited Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s testimony to Congress on the economy.
July 17 (Bloomberg) -- Kit Juckes, head of currency research at Societe Generale SA, discusses Federal Reserve monetary policy and the outlook for the dollar, euro and yen. He speaks with Mark Barton on Bloomberg Television's "Countdown." (Source: Bloomberg)
July 17 (Bloomberg) -- Richard McGuire, a senior fixed-income strategist at Rabobank International, discusses Federal Reserve monetary policy and Belgian bonds. He speaks from London with Guy Johnson on Bloomberg Television's "The Pulse." (Source: Bloomberg)
S&P 500 futures expiring in September gained 0.4 percent to 1,352.5 as of 6:55 a.m. in New York. The U.S. equity benchmark lost 0.2 percent yesterday as retail sales unexpectedly dropped for a third straight month and theInternational Monetary Fund cut its global growth forecast for 2013. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 49 points, or 0.4 percent, to 12,697 today.
“Stocks are being helped by expectations about Bernanke’s testimony to Congress later today,” said Jakup Petur Baerentsen, a chief equity adviser at Nordea Private Bank in Copenhagen. “Investors are speculating if he’ll hint a third round of quantitative easing”
Bernanke will deliver his semi-annual report on the economy and monetary policy before Congress today and tomorrow, after data yesterday showing a contraction in June retail saleskindled speculation the Fed will introduce more measures to support the world’s largest economy.
Minutes from the Fed’s June meeting, released on July 11, showed that two participants supported additional bond purchases, while two others said only a further deterioration in the economy would warrant them.
Economic Data
The cost of living in the U.S. probably was little changed in June, economists said before a report from the Labor Department at 8:30 a.m. in Washington.
At 9:15 a.m., Fed figures may show industrial production increased 0.3 percent in June after a 0.1 percent drop the prior month, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.
The Citigroup Economic Surprise Index for the U.S., which measures how much data from the past three months is beating or missing the median estimates in Bloomberg surveys, is at minus 64, near the almost 11-month low of minus 64.9 reached last week. The gauge peaked at 91.9 in January.
Earnings (SPX) beat estimates at 23 of the 34 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported quarterly results so far, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. Companies including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Yahoo, Coca-Cola Company and Johnson & Johnson will publish their financial reports today.
Yahoo CEO
Yahoo rallied 2.6 percent to $16.05 in early New York trading after the company appointed Mayer as its fifth CEO in four years as it seeks to stem user defections and market-share losses that have contributed to three years of revenue declines.
Freeport-McMoRan, the world’s largest publicly traded copper producer, jumped 1.2 percent to $33.17 in German trading.
Flir Systems Inc. (FLIR) declined 1.7 percent to $18.01 in late trading in New York. The maker of night-vision cameras cut its 2012 sales projection to a range of $1.4 billion to $1.5 billion, compared with an April forecast of at least $1.55 billion. Profit will be $1.40 to $1.50 a share, compared with the earlier estimate of at least $1.60, Flir said after the close of markets yesterday.
The stock fell 2.7 percent in the last 90 minutes of trading yesterday, before the company downgraded its financial projections.
To contact the reporter on this story: Peter Levring in Copenhagen at plevring1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Rummer at arummer@bloomberg.net
