What you need to know before the US open
US stock futures suggest a higher open for US markets, following European counterparts and after Yahoo’s reporting of earnings that beat estimates.
The S&P 500 rose 0.7 per cent yesterday, with earnings from Coca-Cola and Johnson & Johnson outweighing fears around the Ukraine crisis.
On the data front, housing starts rose 2.8 per cent last month in the US – well below of the seven per cent analysts had predicted. That’s 946,000 properties begun (annualised), from 920,000 in February.
And earlier, figures showed the number of mortgage applications made last week increased 4.3 per cent, from the 1.6 per cent fall seen the week before.
Corporate news
Yahoo shares are expected nearly 10 per cent higher at the open, following the web company’s announcement that shares in Alibaba, in which it has a stake of 24 per cent, jumped at the end of last year.
Yahoo gained 7.5 per cent in pre-market trading, leading tech companies higher.
And the Bank of America has reported a $276m loss for the first three months of 2014. That’s five cent a diluted share, compared with the 10 cent made a year earlier ($1.48bn).
Data in focus
- 2.15pm: US March industrial production
- 7.00pm: US Fed’s beige book