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Wall St. looks to bounce
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January 24, 2002: 8:49 a.m. ET
Testimony from Fed chief Greenspan to get attention amid Nokia, EMC reports.
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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Upbeat news from mobile phone maker Nokia and EMC, the data storage company, could send stocks higher early Thursday as Wall Street readies for Senate testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.
Stock futures pointed to initial gains for the major indexes.
Among before-hours gainers, Nokia (NOK: Research, Estimates) stock jumped $1.37 to $23.58 after the Finnish wireless phone maker reported a decline in fourth-quarter earnings Thursday but still topped profit forecasts. It also said it expects business conditions to improve this year, projecting a 15 percent rise in infrastructure and mobile phone sales.
EMC (EMC: Research, Estimates) rose $1.37 to $15.93 early Thursday after the company lost 3 cents a share in its fourth quarter, a loss much narrower than expected. Sales rose more than anticipated.
Unlike many of his past appearances before Congress, Greenspan's visit to the Senate Budget Committee may not be so pleasant. Democrats who now run the panel are concerned that the tax cuts Greenspan advocated last year, coupled with the unanticipated expenses from the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, are wiping out the surpluses many in Congress had expected.
Greenspan's testimony is due to start shortly after the markets open. In it, he may seek to clarify his comments earlier this month that the economy remains very weak, although there are signs of improvement. Those comments triggered a slump in U.S. stock markets.
In an economic report released before the markets opened, the number of Americans filing for first-time jobless claims fell by 15,000 to 376,000 last week, the government said. Economists expected a gain in new claims, whose rate has tapered in recent weeks as the steepest corporate layoffs following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks seems to have passed.
"The pace of layoffs has slowed," Brian Jones, economist at Salomon Smith Barney, told CNNfn's Before Hours.
Among Dow Jones industrial average components posting results Thursday, photo products maker Eastman Kodak (EK: Research, Estimates) reported that profit excluding one-time items tumbled to 12 cents a share in the fourth quarter from 68 cents a share a year earlier. The latest quarter topped Wall Street forecasts of 11 cents a share, but the company also warned that first-quarter results would not meet analysts' estimates. Kodak shares rose 38 cents to $26.50 Wednesday.
Telecom service provider SBC Communications (SBC: Research, Estimates), another Dow issue, posted higher-than-expected fourth-quarter profit, but warned of first-quarter profit below analysts' forecasts. SBC rallied 76 cents Wednesday to $36.33 a share.
Dow component McDonald's (MCD: Research, Estimates) is forecast to have earned 34 cents a share, unchanged from a year earlier. Shares of the world's largest restaurant chain finished 60 cents higher at $27.40 Wednesday.
The Nasdaq composite index begins the day at 1,922.38, following a gain of nearly 40 points. The Dow starts Thursday at 9,730.96 after rising 17 points Wednesday. The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index begins at 1,128.18 after an advance of nearly 9 points.
The advance in the U.S. markets helped lift Asian stocks to a higher close Thursday. European stocks gained at midday.
Treasury prices were mixed in early trading, with the 10-year note yield slipping to 5.01 percent from 5.03 percent Wednesday. The dollar rose against the euro and was little changed versus the yen. Brent oil futures slipped 19 cents to $19 a barrel in London.
In other corporate results, drugmakers American Home Products (AHP: Research, Estimates) , Eli Lilly (LLY: Research, Estimates) and Schering-Plough (SHP: Research, Estimates) all met Wall Street's profit expectations for fourth quarter. 
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