US Stock Futures Up; GE Earnings In Focus

US stock futures are higher this morning, as investors are awaiting quarterly earnings from General Electric Co GE. The Eurozone leaders agreed on the form of the second Greek bailout. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 48 points to 12,738.00 and futures on the S&P 500 stock index rose 3.50 points to 1,346.00. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 3.25 points to 2,413.25. US stocks closed higher on Thursday, with the Dow Jones industrial average surging 1.21% to 12,724.41, the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index jumping 1.35% to 1,343.80 and the NASDAQ composite index gaining 0.72% to 2,834.43. General Electric Co is expected to report its Q2 EPS at $0.32 on revenue of $34.72 billion. Verizon Communications Inc VZ is estimated to report its Q2 EPS at $0.55 on revenue of $27.43 billion. Caterpillar Inc CAT is projected to report its Q2 earnings at $1.79 per share on revenue of $13.52 billion. Honeywell International Inc HON is expected to report its Q2 EPS at $0.98 on revenue of $9.27 billion. McDonald's Corp MCD is projected to report its Q2 profit at $1.28 per share on revenue of $6.63 billion. Reynolds American RAI is expected to report its Q2 earnings at $0.71 per share on revenue of $2.27 billion. Microsoft Corp MSFT reported its FQ4 profit at $5.87 billion, or $0.69 per share, up from $4.52 billion, or $0.51 per share, in the year-ago period. Its revenue rose 8% to $17.4 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $0.59 per share on revenue of $17.2 billion. SanDisk Corp SNDK reported upbeat quarterly results. SanDisk reported its earnings at $248 million, or $1.02 per share, compared with $258 million, or $1.08 per share, in the year-ago quarter. On an adjusted basis, SNDK's earnings came in at $1.14 per share. Analysts were expecting earnings of $0.99 per share on revenue of $1.34 billion. Asian markets ended higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gaining 1.2159%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 1.04% and China's Shanghai Composite rising 0.18%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 2.0808% and India's Sensex jumped 1.53%. European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index has gained 0.76%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.90%, German DAX 30 index rose 0.51% and France CAC 40 index surged 0.93%. The euro dropped 0.08% against the dollar to trade at $1.4413, down from $1.4436 in North American trade late Thursday. The dollar gained 0.30% versus the Japanese yen to trade at ¥78.53, down from ¥78.29. Nymex crude-oil futures gained $0.36 to $99.49 a barrel in electronic trade. Gold futures surged $3.50 an ounce to $1.590.50.