Wall Street futures point to gains after Apple results

By 0912 GMT (5:12 a.m. EDT), S&P 500 futures were up 0.3 percent, Nasdaq futures were 0.5 percent higher, and futures for the Dow Jones industrial average were up 0.2 percent.

After U.S. markets closed, APPLE (AAPL.NQ)gave an unusually upbeat revenue forecast that exceeded Wall Street's expectations and eased fears that the controversy around its iPhone 4 reception would hurt sales. Its shares in Frankfurt rose 4.5 percent.

Investors are likely to closely watch corporate results from financial firms Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo on Wednesday, while eBay will report quarterly earnings after U.S. markets close.

Shares on Wall Street rose for a second consecutive day, partly spurred by gains in Goldman Sachs as buyers materialized following an early sell-off after the investment bank's quarterly earnings tumbled by a steeper-than-expected 82 percent.

Shares of Yahoo dipped 2.6 percent after the bell on Tuesday as it missed Wall Street's revenue estimates in the second quarter.

BP Plc on Wednesday denied a report its heavily criticized chief executive would soon leave, after the company lined up $7 billion in asset sales to Apache Corp to help pay for the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

Apache shares fell 2.4 percent in extended trade after the company said it would offer 21 million shares of common stock.

Markets are expected to focus on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony to Congress due at 1800 GMT for fresh indications on the health of world's biggest economy, and policy signals from the central bank.

International bank lending rose for the first time in over a year during the first quarter, expanding by over $600 billion, or 2 percent, ending a long period of contraction during the financial crisis, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said.

In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top shares surged 1.6 in morning trade as technology stocks were boosted by Apple's strong results.

(Reporting by Harpreet Bhal; Editing by Hans Peters)

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