Nasdaq set to rise on Apple, bank shares eyed

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Nasdaq was set to rise on Wednesday boosted by APPLE (AAPL.NQ)s blowout quarter, while the broader market pointed to a flat open as bank shares faced pressure despite strong earnings from Morgan Stanley.

Apple Inc shares rose 6.1 percent to $259.56 in premarket trading, a day after its quarterly results crushed expectations on record iPhone sales and the company forecast strong revenue growth.

Morgan Stanley shares jumped 2.9 percent to $31.33 premarket after the investment bank posted better-than-expected profit on strong fixed income trading results.

But bank shares kept European markets lower on worries about the International Monetary Fund's threat of new taxes to cover the cost of sovereign bailouts as well as fallout from the Goldman Sachs fraud case and the rising cost of euro zone debt.

"Earnings have been coming out generally better than expected and overall the market's doing extremely well, holding above 1,200 on the S&P," said Frank Lesh, a futures analyst and broker at FuturePath Trading LLC in Chicago.

He said offsetting factors include "a lot of uncertainty about Greece, and concern about the Goldman charges and fears that there may be more action from (U.S. regulators) against other banks."

S&P 500 futures fell 0.4 points but were slightly 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 fell 10 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 9.25 points.

Wells Fargo & Co dropped 2 percent to $33.01 as its quarterly profit fell slightly on fewer mortgages originations compared with the year earlier.

The Select Sector SPDR Financial ETF ticked up 0.1 percent.

Dow component United Technologies Corp said profit rose 20 percent, ending a four-quarter streak of declines. Its shares closed at $74.20.

Fellow blue chips Boeing Co and AT&T Inc also reported results, with the planemaker recording a narrowed profit on an 11 percent decline in commercial plane deliveries.

AT&T posted lower earnings due to a healthcare-related charge but profit before the charge exceeded expectations, and its shares rose 0.3 percent to $26.75.

McDonald's Corp , another Dow component, edged up 0.4 percent to $70.60 premarket after its profit beat estimates on a pickup in its U.S. business.

Yahoo Inc fell 4.5 percent to $17.55 premarket, a day after it recorded revenues shy of estimates, with search advertising revenue off 14 percent. The company also said net revenues could miss the average Wall Street view next quarter.

U.S. stocks rose Tuesday as oil prices lifted energy shares and on optimism about a corporate profit recovery, even though some results fell short of lofty expectations.

(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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