Wall Street to rise on earnings, data weighs

Reuters

Published Jul 29, 2014 09:19AM ET

Wall Street to rise on earnings, data weighs

By Rodrigo Campos

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were set to rise slightly at the open on Tuesday following better-than-expected results from companies such as Pfizer and Merck and ahead of data on consumer sentiment.

Merck (N:MRK) reported better-than-expected quarterly results as new drugs offset declining sales of ones facing generic competition. Pfizer's (N:PFE) higher-than-expected second-quarter earnings were helped by growing sales of its cancer medicines. Merck was up 1 percent in premarket, while Pfizer gained 0.6 percent.

Shares of UPS (N:UPS) fell 3 percent premarket after the world's biggest courier company slashed its earnings forecast for the year as it spent to boost capacity.

Single-family home prices fell 0.3 percent in May on a seasonally adjusted basis, falling short of expectations calling for a 0.2 percent gain. The Conference Board's consumer sentiment for July is due at 10:00 a.m. EDT.

Later on Tuesday, the Federal Reserve begins a two-day meeting on monetary policy. The Fed could make subtle yet telling changes to its policy statement due Wednesday, as it plans how and when to eventually raise interest rates.

S&P 500 e-mini futures were up 3 points and fair value - a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract - indicated a slightly higher open. Dow Jones industrial average e-mini futures rose 40 points and Nasdaq 100 e-mini futures added 7 points.

Shares of Windstream Holdings (O:WIN) jumped 31 percent in premarket trading after the company filed to spin off assets into a publicly-traded real estate investment trust.

Shares of health insurer Aetna (N:AET) fell 2.6 percent before the opening bell, even as it reported a higher second-quarter profit, helped by last year's acquisition of Medicare and Medicaid provider Coventry Health Care.

Spirit Airlines (O:SAVE) rose 2.6 percent in light premarket trading after the low-cost U.S. carrier reported a 54 percent rise in second-quarter profit.

Costco (O:COST) shares rose 2.2 percent premarket after Goldman Sachs added the stock to its conviction buy list.