NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Stocks looked set to open modestly higher Wednesday as investors try to build on the prior session's merger-driven rally.
S&P and Nasdaq futures edged higher in before-hours trading.
Stocks posted solid gains Tuesday, spurred by Cingular's agreement to buy AT&T Wireless for $41 billion, as well as a number of other deals. The Dow industrials, Nasdaq composite and S&P 500 all added about 1 percent.
On the economic front, housing starts sank 7.9 percent in January from December's record pace, the government reported. The numbers came in a bit below economists' forecasts on Wall Street.
The report had little effect on stock futures, but Treasury bond prices got a lift on the news.
Overseas, stocks ended lower in Japan despite strong economic numbers and were mixed elsewhere in Asia. Stocks were higher in Europe.
Treasury bond prices got a lift from the housing numbers, extending modest, earlier gains, and driving the yield on the 10-year note down to 4.01 percent from 4.03 percent late Tuesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The dollar fell to another record low against the euro, which bought as much as $1.2927 in European trading, though it later backed off a bit and was little changed against the yen.
Stocks that could be active Wednesday include El Paso (EP: Research, Estimates), which cut its natural gas reserves by more than a third, and whose shares sank about 8 percent in Frankfurt.
Other issues to watch: Rambus (RMBS: Research, Estimates), which had an antitrust case tossed by a federal judge, and LifePoint Hospitals (LPNT: Research, Estimates), which rose after-hours Tuesday after reporting higher quarterly net income.
Shares of NetEase.com Inc. (NTES: Research, Estimates) also jumped after the Chinese Internet media firm said its quarterly net profit doubled.
But Agilent Technologies Inc. (A: Research, Estimates) fell after the bell despite reporting improved quarterly results on the back of strong demand from the semiconductor and chip-equipment industries.
For other issues that promise to be active, click here.
-- Reuters contributed to the story
|
