MARKET SNAPSHOT: U.S. Stock Futures Point To Modest Gains, With Apple Set To Take The Spotlight

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

Whirlpool earnings miss market expectations

U.S. stock futures indicated Wall Street will see modest gains Tuesday, with a wave of earnings set to envelop the market, including reports from Dow constituents Merck and Procter & Gamble and then Apple after the bell.

Adding to the mix will be updates from the housing and consumer fronts.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 18 points, or 0.1%, to 18,152.00 and futures for the Nasdaq-100 were higher by 7.75 points, or 0.2%, to 4,910.75. S&P 500 futures pared their gain to 2 points, or 0.1%, at 2,146.25n

Gains Tuesday would follow a win for Wall Street on Monday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/merger-monday-sets-us-stocks-on-track-for-gains-2016-10-24), which saw a flurry of merger announcements including the planned purchase of Time Warner (TWX) by AT&T (T) . The S&P 500 closed up by 0.5% and is now roughly 2% below its all-time high set on Aug. 15. Dow industrials closed up 77 points, or 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite tacked on 52 points, or 1%.

"Equity markets began the week on a positive note with M&A activities, positive earnings and better0than-expected data from the eurozone and U.S. all boosting appetite to risk," said FXTM Chief Market Strategist Hussein Sayed in a note.

"Equity bulls would need positive earnings to resume this week and for the tech sector to take the lead from the financials, with the two largest publicly traded companies, Apple and Alphabet to announce results," he added.

Alphabet's report is set for Thursday. But Apple's is due late Tuesday.

Analysts expect to see Apple(AAPL) report earnings at the high end of its fourth-quarter forecast (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-sales-likely-to-fall-again-despite-samsung-woes-2016-10-24), aided by the iPhone 7 launch and new customers switching from Android after Samsung Electronics' exploding Note 7 troubles. However, analysts are also projecting the third-straight quarterly decline in iPhone unit sales.

Quarterly reports were already rolling in ahead of the bell, including figures from chemicals producer DuPont and appliance maker Whirlpool.

Economic data: At 9 a.m. Eastern Time, the S&P/Case-Shiller reading on house prices in August is due.

Then at 10 a.m. Eastern, the Conference Board's October survey of consumer confidence is slated for release, and analysts polled by MarketWatch expect the gauge to dip to 101.0 from 104.1 in September.

There are no Fed speakers on Tuesday's schedule.

Corporates: Shares in Whirlpool(WHR) fell 4% premarket after the appliance maker reported third-quarter profit and sales that missed expectations (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/whirlpool-slumps-43-premarket-after-profit-miss-2016-10-25), and issued a downbeat outlook.

Merck shares (MRK) rose 2.5% before trading opened after the drugmaker's third-quarter earnings and sales came in above expectations (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/merck-shares-climb-3-after-third-quarter-earnings-beat-2016-10-25).

Chemicals maker DuPont(DD) ahead of the bell raised its yearly profit forecast and posted quarterly earnings that outstripped expectations (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dupont-lifts-yearly-profit-view-as-sales-increase-2016-10-25). The company is working on its merger with Dow Chemical (DOW) .

Procter & Gamble Co.(PG) added 1.1% before the open after the consumer goods company reported earnings ahead of forecasts (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/procter-gamble-shares-rise-after-earnings-beat-2016-10-25).

General Motors (GM) rose 2% premarket as auto giant's quarterly profit doubled (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/general-motors-earnings-more-than-double-2016-10-25-74853840). GM also posted higher revenue on strong U.S. truck sales. But it signaled continued weakness in Europe because of the fallout from the U.K.'s pending exit from the European Union, or Brexit.

Other markets: Oil futures were higher (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-drift-south-as-upcoming-opec-meeting-starts-to-look-like-a-bust-2016-10-25) and gold futures were also gaining. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index tilted slightly lower (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-holds-strength-in-wake-of-upbeat-session-for-us-stocks-2016-10-25).

European stocks (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-gain-as-german-business-mood-rises-to-25-year-high-2016-10-25) were modestly higher and Asian shares (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-mixed-after-report-of-korean-economic-slowdown-2016-10-24) were mixed following data that pointed to a slowdown for South Korea's economy.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 25, 2016 07:52 ET (11:52 GMT)

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