US Stock Futures Up; GE Earnings In Focus: April 22, 2012

US stock futures are higher this morning, ahead of earnings from General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 38 points to 12,940.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 3.50 points to 1,376.00. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 7 points to 2,690.50.
 
US stocks closed lower on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 0.53% to 12,964.10, the S&P 500 index declining 0.59% to 1,376.92 and the Nasdaq 100 index dipping 0.79% to 3,007.56.
 
General Electric Company is projected to report its Q1 earnings at $0.33 per share on sales of $34.75 billion. Under Armour Inc (NYSE: UA) is projected to post its Q1 EPS at $0.24 on revenue of $379.83 million.
 
McDonald's Corp (NYSE: MCD) is expected to post its Q1 earnings at $1.23 per share on sales of $6.53 billion. Honeywell International Inc (NYSE: HON) is estimated to report its Q1 earnings at $0.99 per share on sales of $9.16 billion. Kimberly Clark Corp (NYSE: KMB) is projected to report its Q1 earnings at $1.17 per share on sales of $5.05 billion.
 
American Electric Power Co Inc (NYSE: AEP) is expected to report its Q1 earnings at $0.79 per share on sales of $3.65 billion. Ingersoll Rand Co Ltd (NYSE: IR) is estimated to report its Q1 earnings at $0.25 per share on revenue of $3.04 billion. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (NYSE: RCL) is projected to post its Q1 earnings at $0.14 per share on revenue of $1.8 billion.
 
Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) reported better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter earnings.
 
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NYSE: AMD) reported its Q1 adjusted profit at $0.12 per share on revenue of $1.59 billion. However, analysts were estimating a profit of $0.09 per share on revenue of $1.56 billion.
 
SanDisk Corp (NASDAQ: SNDK) issued downbeat quarterly revenue forecast.

European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.23%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.03%, French CAC 40 index rose 0.68% and German DAX 30 index gained 0.59%.
 
Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropping 0.28%, China's Shanghai Composite rising 1.19% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 0.07%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 0.07% and India's Sensex dropped 0.75%.
 
Nymex crude-oil futures gained $0.57 to $102.84 a barrel in electronic trade. However, gold futures rose $2.10 to trade at $1,643.50 an ounce.
 
The Dollar Index (DXY) dropped 0.20% to 79.39, versus 79.560 in North American trade late Thursday.
 
The euro gained 0.30% versus the dollar to trade at $1.3177, versus $1.3144 late Thursday. The dollar gained 0.18% versus the Japanese yen to trade at ¥81.74, up from ¥81.58.

By Monica Gerson