US Stock Futures Slightly Down; Gold Futures Surge

US stock futures are slightly lower this morning, after the Federal Open Markets Committee pledged to keep rates at an all-time low through mid-2013. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 31 points to 11,163.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 2.70 points to 1,169.00. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 4.25 points to 2,150.75. US stocks closed higher on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average surging 3.98% to 11,239.77, the S&P 500 index rising 4.74% to 1,172.53 and the Nasdaq 100 index jumping 5.29% to 2,482.52. Data on job openings and wholesale inventories for June will be released at 10 a.m. ET. However, figures on the federal budget deficit for July are due at 2 p.m. ET. Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation RL is expected to report its Q1 EPS at $1.45 on revenue of $1.43 billion. Macy's Inc M is estimated to report its Q2 earnings at $0.49 per share on revenue of $5.87 billion. Cisco Systems Inc CSCO is projected to report its Q4 EPS at $0.38 on revenue of $10.98 billion. Computer Sciences Corporation CSC is estimated to report its Q1 EPS at $0.69 on revenue of $3.99 billion. News Corporation NWSA is estimated to report its FQ4 EPS at $0.30 on revenue of $8.46 billion. Kelly Services Inc KELYA is expected to report its Q2 EPS at $0.29 on revenue of $1.37 billion. Harman International Industries Inc HAR is estimated to report its Q4 EPS at $0.42 on revenue of $963.56 million. Jack In The Box Inc JACK is projected to post its FQ3 EPS at $0.40 on revenue of $495.33 million. Advance Auto Parts Inc AAP is expected to report its Q2 EPS at $1.38 on revenue of $1.50 billion. Walt Disney Company (The) DIS reported an 11% rise in its fiscal third-quarter earnings. The company's earnings rose to $1.48 billion, or $0.77 per share, from $1.33 billion, or $0.67 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding items, Disney's earnings came in at $0.78 per share. Its revenue climbed 7% to $10.68 billion. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.73 per share on revenue of $10.46 billion. Lions Gate Entertainment Corp LGF swung to a profit of $12.2 million in the fiscal first quarter. Lions Gate reported its quarterly earnings at $12.2 million, or $0.09 per share, versus a net loss of $64.1 million, or $0.54 per share, in the year-ago period. Its revenue dropped 20% to $261.3 million. However, analysts were expecting a loss of $0.06 per share on revenue of $305.4 million. European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index surged 1.16%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.88%, French CAC 40 index rose 0.90% and German DAX 30 index gained 2.31%. Asian markets ended higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 1.0538%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 2.70% and China's Shanghai Composite gaining 0.91%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 2.3433% and India's Sensex jumped 1.52%. December gold futures surged $12.60 to $1,755.60 an ounce in electronic trading. However, oil futures gained $3.08 to $82.38 a barrel. The dollar index rose 0.01% to 73.91. The British pound fell 0.6% versus the greenback to trade at $1.6209.