US Stock Futures Signal Higher Start On Wall Street

US stock futures are higher this morning, ahead of earnings reports from major companies. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 66 points to 12,668.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 6.90 points to 1,315.80. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 14.00 points to 2,476.00. US stocks closed mixed on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 0.05% to 12,653.72, the S&P 500 index declining 0.25% to 1,313.01 and the Nasdaq 100 index gaining 0.24% to 2,811.94. The Labor Department will release Q4 employment cost index at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Case-Shiller index of November home prices will be released at 9 a.m. ET. The Chicago-area January purchasing managers index will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET. However, the Conference Board's January consumer confidence data will be released at 10 a.m. ET. Tyco International Ltd TYC is expected to post its Q1 EPS at $0.79 on revenue of $4.26 billion. Pfizer Inc PFE is projected to report its Q4 profit at $0.47 per share on revenue of $16.61 billion. United States Steel Corporation X is projected to report a Q4 loss at $0.84 per share on revenue of $4.73 billion. Mattel Inc MAT is projected to report its Q4 earnings at $1.01 per share on sales of $2.23 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company ADM is expected to post a Q2 EPS at $0.76 on revenue of $22.82 billion. United Parcel Service Inc UPS is estimated to post its Q4 EPS at $1.26 on revenue of $14.45 billion. Exxon Mobil Corp XOM is projected to report its Q4 earnings at $1.98 per share on revenue of $118.8 billion. Eli Lilly and Company LLY is estimated to post its Q4 EPS at $0.81 on revenue of $5.90 billion. McGraw-Hill Companies Inc (The) MHP is projected to post its Q4 EPS at $0.57 on revenue of $1.55 billion. RadioShack Corp RSH issued a weak fourth-quarter forecast. McKesson Corp MCK reported a strong rise in its FQ3 profit. European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index surged 0.82%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.80%, French CAC 40 index rose 1.13% and German DAX 30 index gained 0.92%. Asian markets ended mostly higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 0.1076%, China's Shanghai Composite gaining 0.33% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 0.20%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 1.1413% and India's Sensex jumped 1.96%. Nymex crude-oil futures for March delivery gained $1.04 a barrel to $99.82 in electronic trade. The euro gained 0.3% against the dollar to trade at $1.3184. However, the dollar gained 0.06% versus the Japanese yen to trade at 76.39 yen.