Stock-Index Futures Rise as Apple Reports Its Earnings

Apple, Texas Instruments and Caterpillar rose at least 2.5 percent in pre-market New York trading. DuPont Co., the third- biggest chemical maker, advanced 2.5 percent and Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest drugmaker, gained 2.1 percent after third- quarter profit topped analysts’ projections.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index expiring in December added 0.5 percent at 12:48 p.m. in London and Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index rose 0.2 percent. Gains were limited as Qatar Holding LLC said it would sell more than 379 million shares of Barclays Plc, the U.K.’s second-biggest bank.

"A number of earnings reports, especially from technology companies, came in better than expected," said Michel van der Stee, a Den Bosch, Netherlands-based strategist at Van Lanschot Bankiers NV, which oversees about $35 billion. “We had anticipated a considerable recovery of profits as the underlying economy improved ," Bloomberg reports.

Meanwhile, Tokyo shares advanced Tuesday as enthusiasm for technology shares such as Tokyo Electron and Kyocera was stoked by encouraging business results from U.S. computer maker Apple and a better than expected outlook from Texas Instruments.

"Tokyo market gains will likely be sustained through the week on bullish signs from U.S. corporate earnings," said Shinichiro Matsushita, market analyst at Daiwa Securities.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 100.33 points, or 1.0%, to 10,336.84, its highest closing level since Sept. 24. The Topix index of all the Tokyo Stock Exchange First Section issues rose 7.65 points, or 0.8%, to 913.45.

December Nikkei 225 futures ended up 80 points, or 0.8%, at 10,330 on the Osaka Securities Exchange.

Other closely watched U.S. earnings reports include Yahoo! Inc. and Microsoft Corp., slated for Tuesday and Friday, respectively , The Wall Street Journal reports.
News agenies also report, technology stocks will be in focus after major companies belonging to the sector reported better than expected quarterly results.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) said Monday after the markets closed that its fourth quarter profit rose 47% from last year, helped by record sales of Macintosh computers and iPhones. The company's quarterly earnings per share breezed past Wall Street expectations, and so did its quarterly sales.
Medical device maker Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX) reported a profit for the third quarter, helped by higher sales mainly from the Cardiac Rhythm Management segment. Looking ahead, the company provided fourth quarter earnings outlook, which came-in with Street consensus. The company, however, lowered its fiscal 2009 forecast, which sent its shares down by nearly 7% in after-hours trading , RTT News reports.

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