Stock futures edge higher, Deere jumps after outlook

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures edged higher on Wednesday, suggesting the market would continue a recent advance that lifted benchmark indexes to multi-year highs.

While the long-term trend in markets should remain positive, some investors may take profit at current levels, analysts said, with the S&P near its highest since November 2007. Recent daily moves have been small and trading volume light as investors search for fresh impetus to drive stocks higher.

Equities have been strong performers of late, buoyed largely by healthy growth in corporate earnings, with the S&P 500 gaining 6.5 percent so far this year. The Dow is about 1 percent from an all-time intraday high, reached in October 2007.

"This is a market that refuses to go down, and the trend suggests that we'll not only hit a new high on the Dow, but move well beyond it," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of Sarhan Capital in New York.

Sarhan noted that the S&P 500 was well over its 50-day moving average of 1,460.92, which he said was a sign the market was overbought.

"A light-volume pullback should be expected and embraced at these levels," he said.

Industrial and construction shares will be in focus a day after President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, during which he called for a $50 billion spending plan to create jobs by rebuilding degraded roads and bridges. He also backed higher taxes for the wealthy.

Retail sales data for January is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET and are seen up 0.1 percent as consumer paychecks shrank following a recent tax increase. Sales rose 0.5 percent in December.

Investors have cheered strength in recent company results, even as economic data, including recent reads on gross domestic product, have indicated some weakness.

Deere & Co jumped 2.1 percent to $95.99 in premarket trading after the farm equipment maker reported results and raised its full-year profit outlook.

S&P 500 futures rose 2.9 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures added 19 points and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 7.25 points.

Comcast Corp agreed late Tuesday to buy General Electric Co's remaining 49 percent stake in NBC Universal for $16.7 billion. Comcast jumped 8 percent to $42.10 in premarket trading while Dow component GE was up 3.2 percent to $23.31.

Yahoo Inc Chief Executive Marissa Mayer said Tuesday the company's search partnership with Microsoft Corp was not delivering the market share gains or the revenue boost that it should.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results on Wednesday include MetLife Inc , Applied Materials and Whole Foods Market .

According to the latest Thomson Reuters data, of 353 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported results, 70.3 percent have exceeded analysts' expectations, above a 62 percent average since 1994 and 65 percent over the past four quarters.

Fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are estimated to have risen 5.3 percent, according to the data, above a 1.9 percent forecast at the start of the earnings season.

Also in economic news, business inventories are seen rising 0.3 percent in December, a repeat of the November increase. The data is due at 10:00 a.m. ET

Stocks closed modestly higher Tuesday as investors awaited President Barack Obama's State of the Union address.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stock-index-futures-point-slightly-higher-start-101356289--finance.html

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