U.S. Market Futures Pointing Higher with a Focus on Earnings

U.S. stock futures are pointing higher in pre-market trading for Thursday, October 27. The Dow Futures are at 18157.0 for a gain of 29.00 points. The S&P 500 Futures are at 2138.0 for a gain of 4.00 points. The Nasdaq Futures are at 4862.75 for a gain of 9.00 points. The Russell Futures are at 1205.3 for gain of 3.30 points.

In overnight trading in the Eastern Hemisphere, Asia Pacific indexes reported the following:

Japan Nikkei 225 at 17336.42 for a loss of -55.42 or -0.32%

Hang Seng Index at 23132.35 for a loss of-193.08 or -0.83%

Shanghai Composite at 3112.35 for a loss of -3.96 or -0.13%

India’ S&P BSE Sensex at 27915.90 for a gain of 79.39 or 0.29%

Europe indexes reported the following:

FTSE 100 at 6962.64 for a gain of 4.55 or 0.07%

Germany’s DAX at 10719.74 for a gain of 10.06 or 0.09%

France’s CAC 40 at 4530.00 for a loss of -4.59 or -0.10%

Stoxx Europe 600 at 342.01 for a gain of 0.25 or 0.07%

Thursday’s Factors and Events

Stocks are pointing higher after Tesla reported better than expected earnings and investors look ahead to positive reports for the day.

On the economic calendar are the following reports: Durable Goods Orders, Jobless Claims, the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index and the Pending Home Sales Index.

Stocks trading actively for the day include the following:

Range Resources

Edwards Lifesciences

Wyndham Worldwide

Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Eaton Corporation

FLIR Systems

Ryder System

Boeing

On Thursday approximately 300 companies will report earnings. Exxon and Chevron will report earnings from the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Wednesday’s Activity

U.S. market indexes were mixed on Wednesday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18199.33 for a gain of 30.06 points or 0.17 percent. The S&P 500 closed at 2139.43 for a loss of -3.73 points or -0.17 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 18199.33 for a gain of 30.06 points or 0.17 percent.

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Source: DJIA, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. Google Finance.

Other notable index closes included the small-cap Russell 2000 Index at 1204.75 for a loss of -11.35 points or -0.93; the S&P 600 Small-Cap Index at 727.29 for a loss of -5.41 points or -0.74; the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1514.86 for a loss of -0.51 percent; the S&P 100 Index at 951.21 for a loss of -0.17 percent; the Russell 3000 Index at 1263.29 for a loss of -0.26 percent; the Russell 1000 Index at 1184.38 for a loss of -0.20 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 600.86 for a loss of -0.01 percent.