Monday, April 11, 2011

US Stock Futures Point To Higher Open, Alcoa (NYSE: AA) Eyed


US stock-index futures pointed to higher open on Monday as investors welcomed the government's last-minute budget deal. 

At 8:40 am ET, the S&P 500 futures rose 2 points to 1,325.80. The Dow Jones Industrial average futures advanced 15 points to 12,341. The Nasdaq Composite futures climbed 7.75 points to 2,325.75.

This week, stock market investors will get their first look at corporate earnings for the first quarter. Outside of earnings, investors remain focused on the rally in commodity prices - particularly oil. Oil jumped to over $113 a barrel on Friday, rising more than 4.5% last week.

The earnings season will begin unofficially with Alcoa Inc (NYSE: AA), the first Dow component to release results after the closing bell on Monday. Analysts, on average, expect the company to report earnings of $0.27 per share on revenue of $6.32 billion.

On Sunday, the Chinese government reported its first quarterly deficit in seven years, as imports outweighed exports by more than $1 billion.

European stocks were mixed in afternoon trade. At 13:48 pm London Time, the UK FTSE rose 5.06 points, or 0.08, to 6,060.81. The German DAX and French CAC decreased 0.23% and 0.62% respectively.

Asian stocks finished lower. The Nikkei 225 fell 48.38 points, or 0.50%, to 9,719.70. The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong slipped 93 points, or 0.38%, to 24,309.07.

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