What you need to know before the US open
Futures have stayed flat in the US, despite the pharma-driven gains seen this side of the pond and Netflix jumping on its earnings report.
The Ukraine crisis continues to trim investor risk sentiment, and the euro’s dipped to a two-week low against the dollar, ahead of manufacturing data from France and Germany later this week.
A bevy of US companies are due to report this week, with 62.1 per cent out of those that have reported so far exceeding expectations, according to data from Thomson Reuters.
Corporate news
Netflix leapt 7.9 per cent in pre-market trading after demonstrating robust subscriber growth in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, Macdonald’s saw profits continue to dwindle in the first three months of the year. Analysts had expected earnings of $1.24 a share, but they dropped from $1.26 a share to $1.21, or $1.20bn.
Comcast beat analysts’ estimates, upping subscriptions to its cable service for the second quarter in a row, adding around 25,000.
And defence firm Lockheed Martin has increased its full-year earnings forecast, posting markedly better-than-expected results.
Data in focus
• 2.00pm: US Feb house price index
• 3.00pm: EU April consumer confidence
• 3.00pm: US March existing home sales
• 4.45pm: US Fed Bernanke’s speech