Futures rise as Turkish lira rebounds, tech stocks gain

[August 14, 2018]   By Amy Caren Daniel

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures inched higher on Tuesday as global markets bounced back from concerns of weakness in Turkish currency, with gains in technology stocks lifting sentiment.

After three weeks of losses, Turkey's lira recovered as the country's central bank moved to ease pressure on the currency, triggering a surge of as much as 7 percent to 6.4 per U.S. dollar <TRYTOM=D3>.

Still the lira has shed more than two-fifths of its value so far in 2018, hitting U.S. and European stocks as investors fretted about banks' exposure to Turkey.

The KBW bank index <.BKX> has fallen in each of the past three sessions, raking up losses of 3 percent. Shares of the big six U.S. lenders were trading between flat and up 0.6 percent in early premarket trading on Tuesday.

Also helping the markets were gains in the so-called FAANG group: Facebook <FB.O>, Apple <AAPL.O>, Amazon <AMZN.O>, Netflix <NFLX.O> and Google-parent Alphabet <GOOGL.O>.

Nvidia <NVDA.O> jumped 1.4 percent after the roll out of its newest generation of chip technology.

Intel <INTC.O> was up 0.6 percent, Micron <MU.O> climbed 0.8 percent, AMD <AMD.O> gained 1.2 percent.

At 7:19 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis <1YMc1> were up 93 points, or 0.37 percent. S&P 500 e-minis <ESc1> were up 10.25 points, or 0.36 percent and Nasdaq 100 e-minis <NQc1> were up 34.75 points, or 0.47 percent.
 

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., July 24, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Home Depot <HD.N> rose 1.9 percent after the home improvement retailer's quarterly comparable-store sales beat analysts' estimates, boosted by a rebound in demand for seasonal merchandise.

Advance Auto Parts <AAP.N> jumped 5.9 percent after beating quarterly profit estimates and the auto parts retailer announced a share buyback program.

The second-quarter earnings season is tapering down. Of the 455 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported so far, 79 percent have beaten analysts' estimates, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Yum China <YUMC.N> rose 2.4 percent, in low volumes after Bloomberg reported https://bloom.bg/2vHjMqA China Investment Corp is backing a potential takeover of the company.

(Reporting by Amy Caren Daniel in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
 

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