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U.S. stock futures followed European stocks higher on Friday as pressure built for eurozone lawmakers to iron out their disagreements over how to stem the debt crisis.
Futures for the
Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 108 points, or 95 points above fair value, at 11,485. Futures for the
S&P 500 were up 13 points, or 11 points above fair value, at 1223 and
Nasdaq futures were up 23 points, or 21 points above fair value, at 2326.
European leaders will meet later this afternoon in Brussels as well as over the weekend to discuss how to leverage the region's rescue fund. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have pushed back their targeted date for agreeing on a plan from Sunday to Wednesday, saying that they aim for an "ambitious" plan. A summit on Oct. 26 was added to the original one slated for Sunday, Oct. 23.
The blue-chip Dow index has swung from positive to negative or vice versa for 10 straight sessions, according to
Dow Jones. That's the longest such run since a similar stretch in May 2009 when the market was still digesting its bounce off the financial crisis lows set in March of that year.
The volatility was the result of several incremental developments in Europe, which overshadowed encouraging U.S. economic data and some bright spots in earnings. While lawmakers in Europe seem committed to reaching a resolution, they still disagree over how to leverage ! the euro zone rescue fund.
On Friday, U.S. futures are slightly higher following gains in European stocks. London's FTSE was gaining 1.2% while Germany's DAX was up 2.2%.
Asian stocks edged higher and copper rallied after five days of losses. Japan's Nikkei Average finished about flat and Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged up 0.24%.
Also tempering the sentiment Friday was a slew of U.S. earnings news. Three Dow components reported before the bell.
General Electric(GE) earnings rose 57% to $3.22 billion but its earnings per share dropped to 22 cents from 28 cents when analysts had expected earnings per share of 31 cents. Shares were slipping 1.2% before the bell.
Verizon's third quarter profit edged past Wall Street consensus. The company targeted full year adjusted earnings per share growth of 5% to 8% and revenue growth of 4% to 8% from the previous the year. Shares were sliding 1.6% to $36.50.
Meanwhile, Dow component
McDonald's(MCD) gained 3.5% after the fast-food chain beat profit expectations.
Chipotle Mexican Grill(CMG) gained 4% in pre market trading after reporting earnings of $1.90 a share, that beat Wall Street's estimate of $1.85 a share. The food chain also said expects up to 145 in store openings for 2011.
Aerospace products and services company
Honeywell(HON) rose 1.8%, after raising its full-year sales outlook by about 13% to $36.70 billion from last year's sales and after beating profit estimates by 10 cents per share.
Shares of
Microsoft(MSFT) were slipping 0.33% after the software maker largely met profit expectations on Thursday, reporting earnings of $5.74 billion for the fiscal first quarter, up from $5.4 billion a year ago.
Ahead of the bell, the dollar index, a measure of the dollar's value against a basket of currencies, was gaining 0.1%. The benchmark 10-year Treasury ! was last gaining 4/32, diluting the yield to 2.18%.
Gold for December delivery was gaining $11.40 to trade at $1624 an ounce. In other commodities, the December crude oil contract was edging up 15 cents to trade at $86.22 a barrel.
No U.S. economic releases are slated for Friday.
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