US Stock Futures Mixed As Investors Await Earnings Reports, Economic Data; Merck Earnings In Focus

US stock futures are mixed this morning, as investors are awaiting jobless-claims data and earnings report from Merck & Co

. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 7 points to 11,992 and S&P 500 futures fell 0.40 point to 1,299.60. Nasdaq 100 futures fell 3.50 to 2,316.25. The blue-chip Dow index gained 1.81 points or 0.02% to close at 12,042 yesterday. Data on weekly jobless claims and Q4 productivity will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The ISM report on service sector activity in January and factory orders for December will be released at 10 a.m. ET. US retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc

are scheduled to report same-store sales for January. Yum! Brands Inc

posted a 27% rise in its Q4 income. Yum reported its earnings at $274 million, or $0.56 per share, compared with $216 million, or $0.45 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding special items, YUM's earnings came in at $0.63 per share. YUM's total revenue increased to $3.56 billion from $3.36 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.60 per share on revenue of $3.51 billion. YUM's same-store sales increased 5% in the US, 8% in China and 1% in its international division. Kellogg Company

is expected to report its Q4 earnings at $0.51 per share on revenue of $2.85 billion. MasterCard

is projected to report its Q4 EPS at $3.04 on revenue of $1.42 billion. Merck & Company Inc is expected to report its Q4 EPS at $0.83 on revenue of $11.52 billion. New York Times

is projected to report its Q4 EPS at $0.34 on revenue of $666 million. Shares of Royal Dutch Shell Plc

dipped about 2.7% in pre-market trading after the company reported weaker-than-expected adjusted Q4 profit. Cigna Corp

reported its Q4 adjusted EPS at $1.15, beating the consensus of $1.02. CI reported its Q4 revenue at $5.43 billion, versus the consensus of $5.36 billion. Negative sentiment ruled the European markets today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has lost 0.21%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.31%. The European Central Bank (ECB) is likely to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged. Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropping 0.25% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rising 0.44%. The euro dropped 0.2% to $1.3784. The dollar index (DXY) gained about 0.10%. Oil futures gained $0.61 to $91.47 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. Gold futures were trading at $1,331.70 an ounce. Read more