Like the incy wincy spider, US markets are going to have another go at climbing upwards today.
“Turnaround Tuesday" turned out to be a damp squib, at least on Wall Street, where early gains were surrendered and the major benchmarks closed deep in the red again.
The Dow Jones shed 205 points to close at 15,666, the S&P 500 tumbled 26 points to 1,868 and the Nasdaq Composite gave up 20 points to close at 4,506.
That was yesterday, however, and although European markets are mostly a little lower and Chinese stocks took another bath overnight, US benchmarks are tipped to open higher.
Spread betting quotes point to a 57 point rise for the S&P, and a 460 point gain for the Dow.
Sentiment has been lifted by durable goods orders for July, which showed a seasonally adjusted rise of 2.0%, when economists had been expecting a 0.6% decline.
Retailers are set to be in focus, with Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) on investors' shopping list after the teen apparel retailer reported a surprise adjusted profit and better-than-expected sales in its fiscal second quarter, buoyed by demand for Hollister and Abercrombie kids brands.
Shares gained as much as 15.8% to $19.98 in New York premarket on Wednesday. The stock had lost 40% since the beginning of the year through Tuesday.
The retailer's net loss was $0.8mln, or a penny per share, in the three months ended August 1, from net income of $12.9mln, or $0.17 per share.
Sector peer Express (NYSE:EXPR) has raised its full-year outlook after a record second quarter sales performance.
Shares were up 11.25% to US$18.75 in pre-market trading after the company revealed like-for-like (LFL) sales growth of 7% in the thirteen weeks to 1 August, the second quarter of the company's financial year.
The LFL sales performance was flattered somewhat by soft comparatives; in the same period the year before LFL sales had fallen 5%.
Shares in Cameron International (NYSE:CAM) are set to spurt higher, after the maker of flow equipment for the energy industry succumbed to an agreed bid from oilfield services titan Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) worth around US$68.36 a share.
In pre-market trading Cameron's shares were up 45% at US$61.70, though at least one party was less than happy at the agreed bid; shareholder rights law firm Johnson & Weaver has launched an investigation into whether the board members of Cameron adequately explored alternatives to an agreed takeover.
The firm cited one analyst's share price target of US$76 a share for Cameron as an indication that the board of Cameron may have left money on the table.