U.S. equity index futures are higher this morning. S&P 500 futures added 5 points in pre-opening trade. Strength can be attributed to weakness in the U.S. Dollar Index, better than expected economic data, better than expected fourth quarter earnings reports and takeover offers.
The U.S. Dollar weakened and the Euro strengthened in anticipation of a bail out of Greece by European central banks. Commodities priced in U.S. Dollars including copper, gold, silver, platinum and crude oil are trading higher. Short term momentum indicators for the U.S. Dollar are rolling over from an overbought level.
More confirmation that the U.S. economy is recovering! The Empire State Manufacturing Index recovered to 24.91 in February from 15.92 in January. Consensus was an increase to 18.00.
Companies that reported higher than expected fourth quarter earnings and revenues this morning included Kraft, Waste Management and Merck.
Two blockbuster takeovers this morning! Simon Properties has offered to purchase General Growth Properties for $10 billion and Yara International has offered to acquire Terra Industries in a friendly deal worth $4.1 billion.
Bernstein upgraded the energy sector. Energy stocks upgraded from Market Perform to Outperform included Chevron (Target: $88), Royal Dutch Shell (Target: $71), Hess (Target: $70) and Marathon (Target: $35).
More investment dealers are upgrading equities in the mining sector! This morning, ING upgraded BHP Billiton from Hold to Buy.
Morgan Stanley initiated Air Products at Overweight with a target price of $91.
Research in Motion is slightly higher this morning on news that the company plans to launch an upgraded browser on its Blackberry system. RIMM broke above resistance at $71.60 on Friday and continued an intermediate uptrend. Current intermediate upside potential on the breakout is to $85.
Don Vialoux, chartered market technician, is the author of a free
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