US Stock Futures Up As Investors Await Earnings: April 19, 2012

US stock futures are higher this morning, ahead of earnings from several major companies. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 71 points to 13,028.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 8.10 points to 1,386.40. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 19.25 points to 2,713.75.
 
US stocks closed lower on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 0.63% to 13,032.75, the S&P 500 index declining 0.41% to 1,385.14 and the Nasdaq 100 index dipping 0.37% to 3,031.45.
 
Data on weekly jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while data on March existing home sales will be released at 10 a.m. ET. The Philadelphia Fed's activity index for April will be released at 10 a.m. ET.
 
Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC) is projected to post its Q1 earnings at $0.09 per share on revenue of $22.82 billion. The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) is expected to post its Q1 EPS at $0.02 on revenue of $500.34 million. Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is projected to post its Q1 EPS at $0.44 on revenue of $7.31 billion.
 
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NYSE: AMD) is estimated to post its Q1 EPS at $0.09 on revenue of $1.56 billion. BB&T Corporation (NYSE: BBT) is expected to post its Q1 EPS at $0.59 on revenue of $2.24 billion. Philip Morris International Inc (NYSE: PM) is estimated to post its Q1 EPS at $1.19 on revenue of $7.26 billion.
 
DuPont (NYSE: DD) is projected to post its Q1 earnings at $1.55 per share on revenue of $11.21 billion. Unitedhealth Group Inc (NYSE: UNH) is projected to post its Q1 EPS at $1.16 on revenue of $27.20 billion. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE: FCX) is projected to post its Q1 earnings at $0.86 per share on sales of $4.57 billion.
 
eBay Inc (NASDAQ: EBAY) reported better-than-expected first-quarter results.
 
Qualcomm Inc (NASDAQ: QCOM) issued a downbeat forecast for the current quarter.
 
European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.76%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.69%, French CAC 40 index rose 1.17% and German DAX 30 index gained 0.71%.

Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropping 0.82%, China's Shanghai Composite declining 0.09% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 0.32%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 1.03% and India's Sensex rose 0.70%.
 
Nymex crude-oil futures gained $0.51 to trade at $103.18 a barrel in electronic trade. However, gold futures surged $5.30 to $1,644.40 an ounce.
 
The Dollar Index (DXY) fell 0.1% to 79.488. The euro rose 0.2% versus the dollar to trade at $1.3146.

By Monica Gerson