2:58 AM
Futures point to mixed open for Wall Street
Addison Ray
New York | Wed Jan 19, 2011 5:44am EST
New York (REUTERS) - U.S. stock index futures pointed to a mixed start for Wall Street on Wednesday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.1 percent, while Dow Jones and Nasdaq futures were up 0.1 percent by 4:53 a.m. EST.
* Strong earnings from the likes of Apple (AAPL.O) and IBM (IBM.N) have reinforced hopes of a strong corporate earnings season.
* Apple landed blockbuster results after markets closed on Tuesday and gave a strong outlook on dazzling sales of the iPhone and iPad, sending its shares up as much as 4 percent before paring gains.
* International Business Machines Corp's (IBM) quarterly profit blew past Wall Street estimates, and a long-hoped-for recovery in its services business raised optimism that global companies were confident enough to spend more on technology. IBM shares rose 2.7 percent in after-hours trading.
* A number of banks are scheduled to release results on Wednesday, including Goldman Sachs (GS.N) which analysts expect to report a fall in quarterly profit by roughly half due to the same adverse fixed income trading environment that hurt Citigroup's (C.N) results a day earlier.
* Goldman is likely to post earnings of about $3.76 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
* State Street (STT.N), U.S. Bancorp (USB.N), Bank of New York Mellon (FIBK.O) and Wells Fargo (WFC.N) are also set to report numbers on Wednesday, along with technology firm eBay (EBAY.O).
* U.S. stocks gained on Tuesday as investors focused on increased price targets for Google (GOOG.O), which reports later this week, and Dow component Caterpillar (CAT.N), whose results are due next week.
* Optimism about earnings has helped bolster stocks in recent weeks, with the S&P 500 .SPX posting its seventh straight week of gains on Friday.
* In company news, agribusiness giant Cargill Inc CARG.UL plans to spin off its $24 billion majority stake in Mosaic Co (MOS.N), a move that could eventually lead to a takeover of Mosaic, the world's second-largest fertilizer producer.
* Citigroup Inc (C.N) plans to name John Havens as president and chief operating officer as part of a structural overhaul to address the bank's efforts to expand, the Wall Street Journal said.
* Executives from General Electric (GE.N), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O), Goldman Sachs (GS.N), Coca-Cola KO.N., Boeing (BA.N), Intel Corp (INTC.O) and Carlyle Group CYL.UL will be among U.S. business leaders at a meeting on Wednesday hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao, a White House official said.
* U.S. aircraft and defense firm Boeing (BA.N) is in talks with South Korea's Korean Air Lines (003490.KS), one of its 787 Dreamliner customers, on its delivery schedule, the head of its Korea unit said.
* On the economic front, weekly U.S. mortgage applications and chain store sales are expected at 6 a.m. EST and 6:45 a.m. EST respectively, while U.S. housing starts for December are due at 1330 GMT.
* In Europe, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top shares slipped 0.2 percent in early trade, pressured by weak banks.
(Reporting by Harpreet Bhal. Editing by Jane Merriman)
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