US Stock Futures Move Up After Banks Posts Higher-Than-Expected Profits

US stock futures moved up today as investor confidence got a boost from better-than-estimated profits at Morgan Stanley MS and Wells Fargo & Co WFC. While futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.4% to 1,084.5 at 8:06 a.m. in New York, those on the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.4% to 10,216. Meanwhile, Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 15.5 points. Strategists at Deutsche Bank said that markets will be focusing today on Mr. Bernanke's monetary-policy report to the US Senate Banking Committee. "Expectations that Bernanke may announce policy accommodation measures seemed to help risk assets recover from the softer housing-starts data and Goldman Sachs's earnings and revenue miss," he said in a note. Bernanke added that markets will "likely listen carefully to decipher any hints about the possibility of a U.S. double-dip [recession]." Some of the companies that will report after the US market closes are EBay EBAY and Starbucks SBUX. Overseas, most Asian markets finished higher as steel stocks rallied.