US stock futures narrowly mixed ahead of open

[July 21, 2009]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Stock futures are holding steady as investors await a wave of earnings news and an appraisal of the economy from Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke.

Modest gains in Europe and Asia are supporting U.S. stock futures.

Investors are looking to a number of earnings reports coming Tuesday for more confirmation that the economy is healing. So far, the reports this earnings season have largely exceeded expectations, fostering a renewed sense of optimism in the market and helping to drive the Dow Jones industrials back into the black for the year.

Though the bar had been set fairly low for the second quarter, the results are still an encouraging sign that the recession is taking less of a toll on corporate America than it was just a few months ago.

Among the companies expected to report Tuesday are Coca-Cola Co., Merck & Co. and Caterpillar Inc. After the market's close, investors will get reports from tech giants Yahoo Inc. and Apple Inc. as well as Starbucks Corp.

Investors will also be listening intently to testimony from Bernanke, who will give his semiannual report to Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday. The market is anxious for his take on the economy, and are hungry for any clues on how the central bank plans to exit the numerous emergency support programs put in place last fall at the height of the financial crisis.

On Monday, the Dow rose for the sixth straight day, gaining 100 points to finish at its highest level since January. The benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index, meanwhile, climbed to its highest finish since November.

Ahead of the market's open, Dow Jones industrial average futures are up 1, or 0.01 percent, to 8,806. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures are up 0.20, or 0.02 percent, to 949.20, while Nasdaq 100 index futures are down 0.50, or 0.03 percent, to 1,540.

Among the early earnings reports Tuesday, UnitedHealth Group said its second-quarter profit more than doubled compared with the year-ago period, which was weighed down by large lawsuit settlements. The health insurer also boosted its full-year profit outlook.

Continental Airlines Inc. posted a slightly bigger-than-expected loss for the second quarter as traffic fell. The airline plans to cut about 1,700 jobs and raise baggage fees.

Late Monday, Texas Instruments Inc. said its second-quarter profit tumbled 56 percent as the chip maker's sales were hit hard by a weak economy, but results were an improvement over the first quarter and better than what analysts had been expecting.

Bond prices slipped in early trading Tuesday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.62 percent from 3.60 percent late Monday.

Oil prices are up 18 cents to $64.16 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average jumped 2.7 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index finished trading down less than a point. In late morning trading, Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.7 percent, Germany's DAX index was up 1.0 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.8 percent.

[Associated Press; By SARA LEPRO]

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