U.S. Markets to Open Higher, Boosted by Earnings

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By Trey Thoelcke Published
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U.S. markets are set to open higher, buoyed by somewhat better-than-expected earnings. Late Wednesday, IBM (NYSE: IBM) posted a higher profit and boosted its earnings target for the year. EBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) also exceeded expectations, and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) offered guidance that was not as bad as feared.

Also yesterday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke concluded his congressional testimony on the U.S. economic outlook without indicating when there might be a fresh round of quantitative easing.

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) offered a disappointing second-quarter report this morning. Also scheduled to report are Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV).

Data on weekly jobless claims, June durable-goods orders and June pending home sales are due out this morning.

Markets in Europe are higher today. U.K. stocks reached a two-week high on better-than-expect earnings from U.S. and European companies.

The FTSE 100 and CAC 40 were both up less than 1%, while the DAX was up about 1.2% to 6.770.

The German parliament is expected to approve the European Union’s bank aid package for Spain.

Spain saw demand weaken as it auctioned debt Thursday. The yield on the country’s 10-year government bond inched closer  to 7%.

Asia stocks rose sharply Thursday as technology firms got a boost from U.S. corporate results. Shares of Chinese banks and insurance companies were strong performers as well.

The Nikkei 225 added 0.8%, while the Hang Seng was up 1.6% to 19,559.

Photo of Trey Thoelcke
About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.

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