Wall Street Persists With Optimism Ahead Of Data

(RTTNews) - Early indications suggest that Wall Street stocks may open Wednesday's session higher, extending the purple patch seen for the past two sessions. Oil is grinding higher and most commodities are also seeing strength. The mood across the Atlantic is markedly upbeat, with the major averages in Europe advancing in excess of 1 percent each. The domestic markets could keep an eye on economic readings on durable goods orders, new home sales and consumer sentiment. Some earnings reports from after the market close yesterday have either been lukewarm or disconcerting. Trading activity is likely to be thin, given the looming long weekend following tomorrow's truncated session.

As of 6:15 am ET, the Dow futures are up 34 points, the S&P 500 futures are gaining 2.25 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures are adding 9.50 points.

U.S. Stocks extended its gains on Tuesday amid a rebound in commodity prices.

On the economic front, the Commerce Department is due to release its durable goods orders report for November at 8:30 am ET. Economists expect durable goods orders to have declined 0.5 percent month-over-month, while excluding transportation, orders may have remained unchanged.

Also at 8:30 am ET, the Commerce Department will also release the personal income component of the personal income and spending report for November. The consensus estimate calls for a 0.2 percent month-over-month increase in personal income,

The Commerce Department will also release its new home sales report for November at 10 am ET. Economists expect new home sales to have come in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 503,000 units compared to 495,000 units in October.

The University of Michigan is set to release the final estimate of its U.S. Consumer sentiment index for December at 10 am ET. Economists expect the index to be upwardly revised to 92 from the flash estimate of 91.8. In November, the index was up 91.3.

The Energy Information Administration is due to release its weekly petroleum status report for the week ended December 18th at 10:30 am ET.

In major corporate news, Nike's (NKE) second quarter earnings beat expectations, although its revenues were shy of estimates. Nike's future orders, a measure of expected demand for next quarter, rose 20 percent excluding the impact of a strong U.S. dollar.   Micron Technology (MU) reported better than expected adjusted earnings for its first quarter, while its revenues trailed estimates. The company's second quarter guidance is disappointing.   Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) announced preliminary third quarter net sales of about $3 billion, up 0.3 percent year-over-year, which is below its previous sales growth guidance of 1.8-4 percent. The company now estimates comparable sales to have declined 0.4 percent or relatively flat on a constant currency basis. The company also lowered its earnings per share guidance to $1.07-$1.10 from $1.14-$1.21. The company also said comparable sales from the beginning of the fourth quarter through Christmas are estimated to have risen about 1 percent.   Cisco (CSCO) announced the completion of its acquisition of privately held Alpharetta, which provides network behavior analytics and security intelligence, for $452.5 million.   Norfolk Southern (NSC) said it will consolidate operations of its coal docks located on Lake Erie in Northern Ohio for improving network efficiency and reducing operating costs.   Under Armour (UA) announced the appointment of Chip Molloy, the former CFO of PetSmart, as its CFO, effective January 19th.   Wipro (WIT) announced that it has agreed to buy Viteos Group, a BpaaS provider for the alternative investment management industry for $130 million.    The Asian markets closed mostly higher, tracking the positive lead from Wall Street overnight, although the Japanese market was closed for a public holiday. The Chinese market bucked the uptrend with a moderate move to the downside after hitting a 4-month high yesterday.

Australia's All Ordinaries opened higher and hovered in positive territory throughout the session before ending up 25.80 points or 0.50 percent. Material and energy spaces spearheaded the advance, although defensive sectors like healthcare, telecom and industrial stocks came under selling pressure.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rallied 210.57 points or 0.96 percent before ending at 22,041. India's Sensex and Malaysia's KLSE Composite Index both ended up over 1 percent. Meanwhile, China's Shanghai Composite Index settled down 15.68 points or 0.43 percent at 3,636. Santa Claus is visiting Europe, as evidenced by the strong start by the major European indexes, courtesy higher commodity prices. The three major averages in the region are up over 1 percent each.   In corporate news, RWE and E.ON have signed an agreement to jointly sell their respective 18.4% and 10% shareholding in the Luxembourg utility Enovos to a consortium led by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and Ardian.    Providing update on Xchanging deal, Computer Sciences (CSC) said it had acquired Xchanging shares representing 9.99 percent stake and has got commitment for another 47.07 percent stake.   Shell (RDS) said it expects 2016 capital investment for the combination of Shell and BG Group to be around $33 billion in current market conditions, $2 billion lower than the previous guidance of $35 billion. It marked a reduction of around 30% from the combination of Shell and BG in 2014.

On the economic front, revised third quarter GDP report released by the U.K. Office for National Statistics showed that the economy expanded at a revised 0.4 percent sequential pace, down from the 0.5 percent growth estimated earlier. Annually, the growth was 2.1 percent.   A report released by statistical office INSEE showed that French consumer spending fell 1.1 percent month-over-month in November, marking the steepest decline since the start of 2014. In October, spending was down 0.2 percent. Economists had expected a 0.1 percent increase for November. Spending on energy fell 5.6 percent, marking the biggest drop since June 2013, with the milder winter weather blamed for the weakness.