Wall Street to open flat after earnings, stress tests due

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a flat open on Friday as another batch of solid corporate results eased fears of a worsening economy, but gains were muted ahead of European stress tests results.

Microsoft Corp edged up 1 percent to $26.09 in premarket trading after easily beating estimates with a 48 percent rise in quarterly profit.

Ford Motor Co jumped 5.1 percent to $12.70 after the automaker posted stronger-than-expected earnings and said it was on track to be profitable in 2010.

Diversified U.S. manufacturer Honeywell International Inc recorded a 4 percent rise in profit and boosted its forecast, citing recovering demand. Its shares advanced 1 percent to $43.10.

Ingersoll-Rand Plc , a maker of cooling systems, had a higher-than-expected quarterly profit and said order trends suggested a stronger 2010 than previously thought. Shares were off 2.1 percent at $36.03.

"The market is coming to the realization that this recovery is going to be slower than we all thought six months ago," said Terry Morris, senior vice president and senior equity manager for National Penn Investors Trust Co in Reading, Pennsylvania.

"Sales and revenue are maybe not so bad and on the comeback. It's a mixed bag, but on balance, the tone is ... pretty respectable."

S&P 500 futures edged up 0.1 point and 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 advanced 13 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 1.75 points.

Solid economic data in Europe also helped support markets, as Britain's economy grew almost twice as fast as expected in the second quarter and German business sentiment leaped by a record margin in July.

The data cheered investors ahead of the European banking stress tests results due at noon EDT. In an effort to ease fears over the potential impact of the euro zone debt crisis on Europe's banking system, regulators assessed how 91 banks would cope with another downturn.

Shares of Dow component McDonald's Corp slipped 1.2 percent to $70.52 after quarterly same-store sales were weaker than expected.

Amazon.com Inc's profit fell short of estimates, hurt by a 40 percent jump in expenses and price cuts on its Kindle electronic reader. Its shares dropped 11.4 percent to $106.41 in premarket.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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