U.S. stock-index futures rose today after the European central bank suggested it would speed up its bond-buying program, and new residential construction in the U.S. surged in April to the highest level in more than seven years.
Stock-index futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.3 percent, to 18,308, and those for the S&P 500 gained about 0.2 percent to 2,131, while futures for the Nasdaq-100 were up 0.3 percent to 4,523.
ECB executive board member Benoit Coeure said the central bank plans to frontload bond buying in May and June before an expected low-liquidity period in the summer.
DATA:
Housing starts jumped 20.2 percent to a 1.14 million annualized rate, the most since November 2007, from a 944,000 pace in March, a Commerce Department report showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 83 economists surveyed by Bloomberg was 1.02 million. More permits, a proxy for future construction, were issued than at any time since June 2008.
MOVERS:
Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) fell 2.4 percent after the world’s largest retailer’s first-quarter profit and sales fell short of expectations. Per-share earnings of $1.03 a share was a penny a share below expectations. Currency translation reduced revenue by $3.3 billion.
Home Depot (NYSE:HD) rose 1.7 percent after the home-improvement retailer posted a rise in first-quarter earnings and sales. It raised its sales guidance for fiscal 2015 and said it would buy back another $3.4 billion in shares over the rest of that year.
Take-Two Interactive Software (NASDAQ:TTWO) jumped 7.2 percent to $24.20 even as the videogame maker reported that its fiscal fourth-quarter loss widened and issued a weak outlook that missed Wall Street’s expectations.
Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) may be active after it reported Monday that second-quarter earnings and revenue fell.
Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN) slumped 15 percent after the specialty retail company reported quarterly sales that fell short of market estimates.
MBIA (NYSE:MBI) sank 6.7 percent after Warburg Pincus LLC, the largest holder of MBIA’s stock, said it will reduce its stake by more than half.
COMMODITIES:
Gold snapped a five-day rally. Spot gold fell 0.5 percent to $1,220 an ounce, below a three-month high of $1,232 reached in the previous session.
Brent for July fell $1.04 to a low of $65.23 a barrel before recovering to around $65.90. U.S. light crude oil was down 40 cents at $59.03 a barrel.
OTHER MARKETS:
The Shanghai Composite Index rose 3.1 percent and Tokyo's Nikkei 225 rose 0.7 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.4 percent.