Stock futures held onto their modest gains Wednesday morning as Wall Street looks to extend its pre-Christmas rally after the Commerce Department said personal spending and income increased last month.
Today’s Markets
As of 8:37 a.m. EST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 22 points, or 0.21%, to 10430 , the Standard & Poor's 500 futures gained 3.6 points, or 0.32%, to 1117.20 and the Nasdaq 100 futures jumped 3.5 points, or 0.19%, to 1844.50
The early optimism comes as the markets are in the midst of a three-day win streak that landed the S&P 500 at its highest level since the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers last fall.
While trading volume is expected to be very light again due to the Christmas holiday, there isn’t a shortage of economic indicators to give the markets direction.
The early focus will be on the health of the U.S. consumer as the Commerce Department said personal spending rose 0.5% in November, lower than forecasts for a 0.6% rise. Personal income increased by 0.4% last month, also slightly lower than estimates but the largest gain in six months. While slightly weaker-than-expected, the results still signal a slow recovery.
After the opening bell, the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey could move the markets. The report, due out at 9:55 a.m. EST, is expected to show sentiment in December rose to a reading of 73.5, which is up from November’s 67.4 and would bode well for the all-important holiday shopping season.
Also on the economic front, the markets are likely to be influenced by data on new home sales set to be revealed at 10 a.m. EST. Economists forecast new home sales climbed by 2.3% in November to an annual rate of 440,000. The markets were buoyed on Tuesday by an industry report that showed existing home sales soared last month at the fastest pace in nearly three years and inventories fell sharply.
Meanwhile, tech stocks could be boosted by a trio of better-than-expected earnings reports released after Tuesday's closing bell.
Networking equipment maker 3Com (COMS) said it earned 9 cents a share, excluding items, even as its sales slid 9.1% to $322 billion. Chip maker Micron Technology (MU) impressed the market by swinging to its first quarterly profit in three years with EPS of 23 cents. Analysts had forecasted EPS of just 7 cents. At the same time, business software maker Red Hat (RHT) beat the Street with non-GAAP EPS of 17 cents and revenue of $194 million.
In the commodity markets, crude oil rose 60 cents, or 0.79%, to $75 a barrel.Gold gained 20 cents a troy ounce, or 0.02%, to $1086.20.
Global Markets
London's FTSE 100 rose 0.89% to 5376.18, Germany's DAX gained 0.43% to 5971.37 and France's CAC 40 advanced 0.72% to 3926.55.
In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.12% to 21328.74 and Japan's Nikkei 225 was closed for a holiday.
3Q income up for Dollar GeneralPersonal Spending Rises by Better-Than-Expected 0.7% in October
