US markets are looking to extend gains into a third day as investors were becoming more optimistic about earnings season. Investors were shrugging off poor results out of Morgan Stanley and were instead looking at beats in several tech companies.
A quick snapshot of the major indices has the Dow up .4%, the Nasdaq .7% and the S&P .5%.
The Fed Chairman wrapped his congressional testimony yesterday and barring any dramatic event, the likelihood of a renewed QE program looks dim before the presidential election. The Fed did say it stood ready to use any tools at its disposal to help with fight against any economic downturn.
The Eu saga continued overnight with a Spanish bond auction seeing lackluster demand. Yields also approached the 7% level. A Parliament vote in Germany is expected to pass the Spanish bailout measure later today.
Commodities are following the overall market higher this morning. Oil has firmly regained its footing above $90 per barrel. Nymex crude futures are up $1.37 to $91.24 as middle east tensions ratchet up once again.
Gold prices are also edging higher with gold futures up over $15 to $1588.20 per ounce.
Stocks to Watch
Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) is up 13.87% in pre market trading at $1.97. NOK has traded 144 thousand shares this morning and trades 38.6 million shares a day on average. Nokia reported second quarter results on Thursday and saw its loss widen on falling sales. Despite the losses, NOK shares are up thanks to its first real gains in its Windows-based smartphone area. Nokia said it has sold four million new Lumia smartphones in the second quarter. The company has a market cap of 6.42 billion.
Mellanox Technologies, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MLNX) is up 43.90% this morning at $95.52. MLNX has traded 208 thousand shares so far today and averages 827 thousand shares a day. MLNX shares are rising today as the company’s quarterly sales double and EPS came in at $0.99/share, beating average estimates of around $0.73/share. The company has a market cap of 2.69 billion.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) is down 1.68% today at $45.12. VZ has traded 54 thousand shares so far today and trades 14.9 million shares a day on average. VZ shares are down right now despite seeing revenue rise in the second quarter and customer growth also surpassed expectations. The company has a market cap of 130.37 billion.
Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) is down 0.47% in pre market trading at $2.10. SIRI has traded 54 thousand shares so far today and trades 49.8 million shares a day on average. SIRI shares are up more than 10% over the past month. The company has a market cap of 8.02 billion.
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) is up 6.65% this morning at $43.15. EBAY has traded 215 thousand shares so far today and trades 13.6 million shares a day on average. EBAY shares are up in pre market trading thanks to good second quarter earnings. eBay beat revenue estimates thanks to an increase in U.S. sales. Revenue came in at $3.4 billion, beating estimates of $3.36 billion. The company has a market cap of 52.24 billion.
Zynga, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZNGA) is up about 1% in pre market trading at $4.61. ZNGA has traded nearly 30 thousand shares this morning and trades 23.7 million shares a day on average. ZNGA shares have fallen 22.78% a share over the past month. The company has a market cap of 3.39 billion.
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