Stock futures rise on strong earnings reports from Dow members

[January 23, 2019]    By Shreyashi Sanyal

(Reuters) - Strong earnings from Dow members IBM, United Technologies and Procter & Gamble lifted U.S. stock index futures on Wednesday, putting Wall Street on track to recover from its second biggest decline in 2019.

Futures pointed to at least half a percent gain at the open, with 19 of the 25 most actively traded premarket stocks rising.

Shares of International Business Machines Corp <IBM.N> jumped 6.7 percent and was the biggest gainer among 21 of the 30 Dow Jones Industrial Average components trading in premarket, after the company projected 2019 profit above expectations.

The gains follow Wall Street's more than 1 percent loss on Tuesday as worries about slowing global growth came to the fore after a gloomy economic outlook from the International Monetary Fund, signs of further cooling in China's economy and mixed reports on U.S.-China trade talks.

Still, the benchmark S&P 500 index is about 10 percent away from its record closing high on Sept. 20.

At 7:37 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis <1YMc1> were up 180 points, or 0.74 percent. S&P 500 e-minis <ESc1> were up 15.5 points, or 0.59 percent and Nasdaq 100 e-minis <NQc1> were up 40.5 points, or 0.61 percent.

Oil prices rose almost 1 percent on optimism over Japan and China taking fiscal stimulus measures to stem an economic slowdown.

Industrial conglomerate United Technologies Corp <UTX.N> rose 3.1 percent after reporting a rise in quarterly profit, benefiting from a favorable effective tax rate and the acquisition of aero parts maker Rockwell Collins.

Procter & Gamble Co <PG.N> climbed 3.3 percent after its quarterly revenue beat Wall Street's expectation, driven by strong demand for beauty and fabric care products.

U.S. cable services provider Comcast Corp <CMCSA.O> climbed 3.5 percent after its quarterly revenue beat analysts' estimates, helped by lower-than-expected video subscriber losses.

The earnings season still has more to offer as just over 12 percent of S&P 500 companies have reported so far and 78.7 percent of them have beat Street expectations, according to Refinitiv data.

(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and additional reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

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