Yahoo Finance What you need to know before the US open
US markets are expected higher today, buoyed by the tech results released last night.
Apple’s jumped 8.3 per cent in pre-market trading.
Data wise, orders for durable goods rose 2.6 per cent in March, above expectations and pointing to a lift in business investment.
Initial jobless claims, however, increased by 329,000 last week, reflecting the fact it was the Easter break and it's harder to annualise data. Analysts had predicted a smaller rise of 310,000. That takes the total number of people claiming unemployment benefit to 2.68m.
Over in Europe, the euro’s shed gains against the dollar following European Central Bank president Mario Draghi’s reiterating of risks around asset purchases used to fend off deflation.
Corporate news
UPS has said its full-year profits will be down to the lower end of its estimates, after its performance was blighted by the cold weather seen in the US over the winter.
Meanwhile, Caterpillar’s raised its outlook for the full year, after delivering quarterly earnings that were above expectations.
Alexion Pharmaceutical’s also upped its profit forecast on stronger-than-expected net earnings - the second time it’s done so in two months.
And GM’s reported an 88 per cent slump in first quarter profit, following a huge recall because of defective ignition switches, for which it also took a hit of a $1.3bn charge.
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