Stock futures rise after BofA, Goldman earnings

[January 16, 2019]   By Medha Singh

(Reuters) - U.S. stock futures pointed to higher open on Wednesday, lifted by strong quarterly results from Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.

Bank of America Corp's <BAC.N> shares jumped 4.5 percent in premarket trading after the second-biggest U.S. lender's fourth-quarter profit beat estimates on a growing loan book that helped overshadow a drop in revenue in investment banking.

Goldman Sachs <GS.N> climbed 3.4 percent after reporting an increase in trading revenue, the first Wall Street bank so far to show growth in that business.

BlackRock Inc <BLK.N> dipped 0.5 percent in light premarket trading after the world's biggest asset manager posted lower-than-expected quarterly profit as market volatility in the last leg of the quarter prompted investors to pull out money from its actively managed funds.

Global stocks rode out the heavy parliamentary defeat for British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal, as investors saw potential for legislative deadlock to force London to delay its departure from the EU.

The confidence motion, called by opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn after lawmakers rejected May's Brexit deal by 432-202, will be held at 1900 GMT, or 2:00 p.m. ET.

At 7:45 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis <1YMc1> were up 0.38 percent. S&P 500 e-minis <ESc1> were up 0.25 percent and Nasdaq 100 e-minis <NQc1> were up 0.17 percent.

Helping the sentiment, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer assured lawmakers that companies will be able to request exclusions on tariffs on $200 billion worth of goods under discussion with Beijing if talks do not yield a deal by the March 2 deadline.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., January 10, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

U.S. stocks closed at a four week high on Tuesday, lifting the benchmark index 11 percent above its December low as technology and internet stocks surged and investors shrugged off weak results from JPMorgan and Wells Fargo.

S&P 500 companies are expected to report a 14 percent rise in fourth-quarter earnings, much lower than the 20.1 percent growth forecast in October, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Nordstrom Inc <JWN.N> shares slid 9 percent after the department store operator said it expected its full-year profit to be at the lower end of its prior forecast due to disappointing holiday sales.

The warning comes a week after retailers took a beating following Macy's <M.N> move to slash its full-year profit and sales forecast.

On the macro front, a report from the Commerce Department is expected to show retail sales rose 0.2 percent in December, in line with prior month's gain. The report is due at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Among other movers, Snap Inc <SNAP.N> fell 9.2 percent in heavy premarket trading after the Snapchat-owner said Chief Financial Officer Tim Stone will be leaving less than a year after taking the job.

(Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

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