Stock futures point toward higher opening

[July 30, 2009]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Stock futures are rising Thursday, pointing toward a higher opening as investors try to restart a two-week rally that stalled in recent days on mixed economic and earnings reports.

Investors are following overseas markets, which are rising because of upbeat profit reports. Japanese shares rose to nearly 10-month highs on better-than-expected earnings at automakers Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. European markets were buoyed by better-than-expected results at British telecommunications company BT Group PLC and its French peer Alcatel-Lucent SA as well as the drugmaker AstraZeneca PLC.

In the U.S., investors will again be focusing on a spate of earnings reports looking for insight into potential recovery in the economy. Markets rallied for two weeks with major indexes gaining more than 11 percent due to upbeat earnings reports and corporate outlooks, before stalling earlier this week.

Travelers Cos. reported a 21 percent drop in profit, which fell short of analysts' expectations. However, the commercial and personal property insurer increased its full-year operating earnings outlook.

Major companies such as ExxonMobil Corp., MasterCard Inc., MetLife Inc. and Walt Disney Co. are also scheduled to report earnings on Thursday.

Ahead of the opening bell, Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 65, or 0.7 percent, to 9,112. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures gained 7.90, or 0.8 percent, to 982.80, while Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 12.50, or 0.8 percent, to 1,613.25.

Investors will also get a weekly reading on unemployment. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters expect new applications for unemployment benefits rose by 16,000 to a seasonally adjusted 570,000 last week.

The number of Americans collecting unemployment for more than one week is expected to rise to 6.3 million from 6.23 million.

The Labor Department report is due out at 8:30 a.m. EDT.

On Wednesday, major U.S. indexes fell slightly after the Commerce Department said orders to U.S. factories for manufactured goods dropped more than expected because of a decline in demand in the auto and commercial aircraft industries.

Meanwhile, bond prices fell. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.70 percent from 3.67 percent late Wednesday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, rose to 0.19 percent from 0.17 percent late Wednesday.

The dollar mostly fell against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.5 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 gained 1.4 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.8 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 1.2 percent.

[Associated Press; By STEPHEN BERNARD]

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