Strong U.S. Data Ahead Of Half-Day Trading

U.S. stock futures were flat this morning, ahead of factory-orders data, which went on to rebound more sharply than expected. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 3 points to 12,773 and S&P 500 index futures fell 0.10 points to 1,357.50. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 3.75 points to 2,618.00.
 
U.S. stocks closed mixed on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 0.07% to 12,871.39, the S&P 500 index rising 0.25% to 1,365.51 and the Nasdaq 100 index jumping 0.55% to 2,951.23.
 
Data on factory orders for goods produced in U.S. factories rose 0.7% in May, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) announced a $6.2 billion charge for the fourth quarter related to the company's acquisition of aQuantive in 2007.
 
Men's Wearhouse (NYSE: MW) announced the departure of its Chief Financial Officer Neill Davis. Davis will join Francesca's Holdings (NASDAQ: FRAN) as President.
 
Shares of BrightPoint (NASDAQ: CELL) surged 66.54% yesterday after the company agreed to be bought by Ingram Micro (NYSE: IM) for $650 million
 
European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.46%, London's FTSE 100 Index surged 0.37%, French CAC 40 Index gained 0.20% and German DAX 30 index rose 0.73%.
 
Asian markets ended mostly higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 0.70%, China's Shanghai Composite gaining 0.14% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropping 0.15%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged 1.51% India's Sensex rose 0.15%.
 
Nymex crude-oil futures climbed $1.38 to $85.13 a barrel in electronic trade. However, gold futures gained $11.60 to $1,609.30 an ounce.
The dollar index (DXY) gained 0.02% to 81.88. The euro rose 0.1% against the dollar to trade at $1.2589.
 
The U.S. dollar rose 0.5% versus the Japanese yen to trade at ¥79.83.

BY Monica Gerson