Advertisement
UK markets open in 7 hours 47 minutes
  • NIKKEI 225

    38,471.20
    -761.60 (-1.94%)
     
  • HANG SENG

    16,248.97
    -351.49 (-2.12%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    85.26
    -0.10 (-0.12%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,401.80
    -6.00 (-0.25%)
     
  • DOW

    37,798.97
    +63.86 (+0.17%)
     
  • Bitcoin GBP

    51,275.74
    +248.22 (+0.49%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • NASDAQ Composite

    15,865.25
    -19.77 (-0.12%)
     
  • UK FTSE All Share

    4,260.41
    -78.49 (-1.81%)
     

US STOCKS-Wall St set to open up on strong quarterly reports

* ECB to meet later in the day to discuss Greece funding

* Citigroup (NYSE: C - news) rises after posting highest profit in 8 years

* Netflix (Xetra: 552484 - news) jumps on rise in subscribers

* Intel (Swiss: INTC.SW - news) , eBay post better-than-expected results

* Futures up: Dow 44 pts, S&P 8 pts, Nasdaq 18 pts (Adds details, comment, updates prices)

By Tanya Agrawal

July 16 (Reuters) - Wall Street was set to open slightly higher on Thursday as investors welcomed Greek parliamentary approval of a bailout plan and on strong results from bluechip companies such as Citigroup, eBay and Netflix (Hanover: NFC.HA - news) .

ADVERTISEMENT

The European Central Bank will meet later in the day and is expected to ease its funding squeeze on shuttered Greek banks.

"Now (NYSE: DNOW - news) that Greece has been taken care of for the time being, the focus has shifted to what's happening on the ground in the U.S.," said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott.

"While U.S. equities are fully valued at the moment, if companies are not able to fulfill heightened expectations of stronger earnings in the second half of the year, we will see some more sideways action."

A majority of U.S. companies that have reported so far have posted strong results for the second quarter.

Citigroup's shares rose 2.6 percent to $57.93 premarket, and were set to open at a more than six year high, after the bank reporting its highest quarterly profit in eight years.

But Goldman Sachs slipped 0.8 percent to $127.78 after reporting its smallest quarterly profit in nearly four years.

Financial companies are expected to get a boost when the Federal Reserve raises interest rates this year.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen said on Wednesday that rates will be raised this year, but did not give clues about the timing or pace of a hike. She continues her congressional testimony on Thursday.

S&P 500 e-minis were up 7.75 points, or 0.37 percent, with 126,095 contracts traded at 8:39 a.m. ET. Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 18.25 points, or 0.4 percent, on volume of 24,796 contracts while Dow e-minis were up 44 points, or 0.24 percent, with 19,440 contracts changing hands.

Corporate America is expected to report its worst sales decline in nearly six years for the second quarter, while profit is expected to have fallen 2.9 percent, according to Thomson Reuters estimates.

EBay (Xetra: 916529 - news) rose 3.5 percent to $65.65 after the company reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit and said it was selling its enterprise business.

Netflix jumped 12.3 percent to $110.20 a day after the company added nearly a third more subscribers than expected in the second quarter.

Intel rose 2.6 percent to $30.48 a day after it reported better-than-expected quarterly results.

Mattel (NasdaqGS: MAT - news) and Google (Xetra: A0B7FY - news) are scheduled to report after markets close. (Editing by Savio D'Souza)