Bubbly Apple Results May Strengthen US Stocks

By Investors Hub

Major US index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Wednesday, with stocks poised to add to the gains posted in the previous session.

Better than expected quarterly results from tech giant Apple (AAPL) are likely to generate buying interest early in the trading day on Wednesday.

Following the mixed performance seen on Monday, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday. With the upward move on the day, the Dow reached another new record closing high.

The major averages all ended the day moderately higher. The Dow climbed 72.80 points or 0.3 percent to 21,963.92, the Nasdaq edged up by 14.81 points or 0.2 percent to 6,362.94 and the S&P 500 rose 6.05 points or 0.2 percent to 2,476.35.

The strength on Wall Street came as traders continued to react to the latest batch of earnings news, with most corporate results exceeding economist estimates.

Trading activity was somewhat subdued, however, with traders reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the monthly jobs report on Friday.

On the US economic front, a report released by the Commerce Department on Tuesday showed U.S. personal income unexpectedly came in unchanged in the month of June.

The report said personal income edged down by less than a tenth of a percent in June after rising by a revised 0.3 percent in May.

Economists had expected income to climb by 0.4 percent compared to the 0.4 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the report said real spending, which is adjusted to remove price changes, was nearly unchanged in June after climbing by 0.2 percent in the previous month.

A separate report from the Institute for Supply Management showed a slowdown in the pace of growth in the manufacturing sector in the month of July.

The ISM said its purchasing managers index dropped to 56.3 in July from 57.8 in June, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in the manufacturing sector. Economists had expected the index to fall to 56.5.

Electronic storage stocks showed a strong move to the upside, driving the NYSE Arca Disk Drive Index up by 1.6 percent.

Significant strength was also visible among telecommunications stocks, as reflected by 1.3 percent jump by the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index.

Airline and banking stocks also showed notable moves to the upside, while trucking and steel stocks came under pressure on the day.