U.S. Stock-Index Futures Rise; General Motors Gains in Europe April 26 (Bloomberg) --
U.S. stock-index futures rose before earnings from companies including Boeing Co. and PepsiCo Inc.
General Motors Corp. advanced in Europe after Merrill Lynch & Co. raised its recommendation on shares of the world's largest carmaker. Amazon.com Inc. rose after the biggest online retailer increased forecasts for the year.
Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures expiring in June added 1.6 to 1311 at 11:50 a.m. in London. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 17 to 11,350. Nasdaq-100 Index futures climbed 1.25 to 1715.75.
More than 50 members of the S&P 500 are scheduled to report today, in the busiest week for first-quarter earnings. About 72 percent of companies in the index that have reported first- quarter results have beaten analyst estimates, more than the 57 percent average since 1992, data from Thomson Financial show.
``There are more positive surprises than negative,'' said Thomas Radinger, a fund manager at Activest Investment GmbH who helps oversee $2.5 billion in Unterfoehring, Germany. ``The risks are on the inflation front right now.''
U.S. stocks yesterday fell the most in two weeks as unexpected increases in consumer confidence and sales of previously owned homes heightened concern that the Federal Reserve will keep lifting rates.
Investors may take cues on inflation from reports today on economic conditions, durable-goods orders and homes sales, a day before Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies before Congress on the economy.
The Fed will release its regional survey of economic activity, the so-called Beige Book, at 2 p.m. New York time. The Commerce Department will report data on U.S. orders for long- lasting goods at 8:30 a.m. New York time and a report about sales of new homes at 10 a.m.
Earnings Reports
Boeing, the world's second-largest maker of commercial airliners, and PepsiCo, the second-biggest soft-drink maker, are among the companies due to release earnings before U.S. markets open. Other companies to report before trading begins include ConocoPhillips, the No. 3 U.S. oil company, and Sprint Nextel Corp., the third-biggest mobile-phone service provider.
Anheuser-Busch Cos., the world's largest brewer, is due to report after markets open, while Pulte Corp., the biggest U.S. homebuilder by market value, is among those reporting after the close of trading.
GM, the biggest carmaker, rose 50 cents to $21.91. Merrill raised the recommendation on the stock to ``neutral'' from ``sell.'' Separately, U.S. antitrust enforcers yesterday cleared GM's sale of a majority stake in its finance unit to a group led by Cerberus Capital Management.
Amazon.com
Amazon.com gained 3 cents to $35.55 in Germany. The company aid yesterday after U.S. markets closed that sales may rise to 10.5 billion and profit excluding items may increase to $520 million in 2006. The forecasts exceeded the company's earlier estimates.
Sanmina-SCI Corp. jumped 56 cents to $4.60. The world's second-largest maker of electronics for other companies forecast earnings this quarter that exceeded the estimates of some analysts.
The Dow average lost 0.5 percent, the S&P 500 declined 0.5 percent, its biggest drop since April 11. The Nasdaq Composite Index slumped 0.1 percent.
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