Stocks are pointing higher this morning thanks to a string of earnings beats. Wall Street is trying to snap a 2-session losing streak and close out the week on a positive note. The economic data calendar is light today, so earnings season is running the show domestically. Dow futures are currently up 79 points. Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures are adding 14 and 7 points respectively.
Outside of earnings, the IMF is slated for meetings throughout the weekend on ways to combat crises that could impact global growth. So far they have secured $320 Billion in pledges for their fight.
Meetings between the G-8 and G-20 could have market moving headlines at any point this weekend. The concern is once again Europe and their ongoing saga with the sovereign debt crisis that goes from country to country.
A political element that could throw Europe into disarray is the French presidential election. The first round is this weekend and it is expected that Sarkozy and the Socialist candidate, Francois Hollande will prevail to the run-off. If Hollande was to win outright, it could endanger any deals the EU and ECB have formulated up until this point.
In commodities, oil and gold are enjoying small rallies this morning. Nymex crude futures are up 97 cents to 103.67 per barrel. Gold price futures are up $4.80 to $1,646 per ounce.
Stocks to Watch
Amarin Corporation plc (NASDAQ:AMRN) is up 5.24% in pre market trading at $10.07. AMRN has traded 6 thousand shares so far today and averages nearly 6 million shares a day on average. AMRN shares are trying to bounce back this morning after the stock fell from $10.10 to nearly $9.40 yesterday. The company has a market cap of 1.30 billion.
Rex Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:REXX) is up about 3% this morning at $9.35. REXX has traded 2 thousand shares in pre market and trades 1.07 million shares a day on average. REXX shares have fallen slightly over the past week, dropping about $0.25 a share in that span. The company has a market cap of 480.36 million.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is up 3.48% this morning at $32.09. MSFT has traded 210 thousand shares so far today and trades 48 million shares a day on average. MSFT shares are rallying after Microsoft released quarterly earnings that beat Wall Street estimates. Microsoft reported profit of $5.11 billion or $0.60 per share, beating estimates of $0.57 per share. The company has a market cap of 260.20 billion.
E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc. (NYSE:DANG) is up 4.44% in pre market trading at $9.18. DANG has traded 9 thousand shares this morning and averages 3.7 million shares a day. DANG shares are looking to continue going up after yesterday’s rally. The stock had been in a downtrend over the past week, dropping more than $1 a share since last Friday. The company has a market cap of 723.29 million.
Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) is up 0.22% this morning at $2.24. SIRI has traded 263 thousand shares in pre market trading and trades 54.1 million shares a day on average. SIRI shares fell to $2.15 on Monday, but have since bounced back up. The company has a market cap of 8.39 billion.
Riverbed Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:RVBD) is down 22.29% this morning at $21.65. RVBD has traded 426 thousand shares in pre market and trades 3.8 million shares a day on average. RVBD shares are down after the company saw its first quarter profit fall. RVBD was also downgraded to perform from outperform at Oppenheimer. The company has a market cap of 4.39 billion.
Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) is down 2.64% in pre market trading at $6.82. MU has traded 90 thousand shares this morning and trades 33 million shares a day on average. MU shares have are down more than $0.20 a share over the past week. The company has a market cap of 6.93 billion.
About Kyle Pinder
