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Empresas y finanzas

Stock index futures point to higher open on Wall Street


    PARIS (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Friday, adding to the previous session's strong rally, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.57 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.48 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.59 percent.

    Microsoft Corp will be in focus after it easily beat Wall Street forecasts with a 48 percent rise in quarterly profit, but its shares barely moved in the absence of powerful new signs of a rebound in global tech spending.

    Shares of Microsoft traded in Frankfurt were down 0.3 percent.

    Amazon.com Inc's quarterly profit fell far short of Wall Street estimates, hurt by a 40 percent jump in expenses and by price cuts on its Kindle electronic reader, sending its shares down 14 percent in extended trading.

    Shares of Amazon.com traded in Frankfurt were down 9.5 percent.

    Companies expected to report earnings on Friday include Honeywell International Inc , Ingersoll-Rand Plc and Verizon Communications Inc , while economic indicators on tap for Friday include the Economic Cycle Research Institute's weekly leading index at 1430 GMT.

    The market's main focus will be on the results from Europe's banking stress tests due at 1600 GMT. In an effort to ease investors' fears over the potential impact of the euro zone debt crisis on Europe's banking system, regulators are assessing how 91 banks across Europe would cope with another economic downturn.

    Ahead of the results due after Europe's closing bell, European stocks were up 0.4 percent in morning trade, adding to a strong two-day rally, with the STOXX banking index poised to record a 5 percent gain on the week.

    "At this point, the market seems to have priced in the tests, as investors believe Europe won't shoot itself in the foot by revealing very negative surprises ... But there won't be euphoria after the results because we know they won't completely reassure the market," said Christian Parisot, chief economist at Aurel BGC.

    Japan's Nikkei rose 2.3 percent to snap a five-day losing streak as worries about the results of European bank stress tests eased and after robust U.S. corporate earnings.

    Shares of flash memory producer SanDisk Corp fell 7.2 percent to $40.00 in extended trading on Thursday after the company released its quarterly results.

    Earnings from economic bellwethers 3M , UPS and Caterpillar propelled U.S. stocks higher on Thursday as investors shed some of their fears about the strength of the recovery.

    The Dow Jones industrial average gained 201.77 points, or 1.99 percent, to 10,322.30. The Standard & Poor's 500 added 24.08 points, or 2.25 percent, to 1,093.67. The Nasdaq Composite rose 58.56 points, or 2.68 percent, to 2,245.89.

    (Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Michael Shields)