U.S. stock-index futures advanced as China’s second-quarter economic growth topped estimates and as Apple Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. rallied after announcing a partnership.

Apple and IBM rose at least 2 percent each in early New York trading after agreeing to develop applications for corporate users of wireless devices. Intel Corp. gained 5 percent after forecasting third-quarter sales above analysts’ projections. International Game Technology jumped 10 percent after Gtech SpA agreed to buy the world’s biggest slot-machine maker for $4.7 billion. BlackRock Inc. climbed after second-quarter profit beat analysts’ forecasts.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) expiring in September added 0.3 percent to 1,974.6 at 7:31 p.m. in New York. The equity gauge fell 0.2 percent yesterday after the Federal Reserve said that valuations for smaller social-media and biotechnology companies are substantially stretched. Dow Jones Industrial Average contracts increased 55 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,043 today.

“The Chinese data confirms the long emerging-markets view that I hold,” Manish Singh, who helps oversee $2 billion as head of investments at Crossbridge Capital in London, said. “As the global recovery improves, emerging markets should benefit too. I am very encouraged by U.S. financials’ earnings and this will keep the market supported. The biggest risk to the S&P 500 is changes in rate-rise expectations.”

China’s economic growth accelerated for the first time in three quarters, data from the statistics bureau in Beijing showed. Gross domestic product rose 7.5 percent in the April-June period from a year earlier, beating the 7.4 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of economists.

Industrial Output

A Federal Reserve report at 9:15 a.m. in Washington may show industrial production grew 0.3 percent in June, slower than the 0.6 percent increase in May, economists predicted.

In all, fourteen companies on the S&P 500 including EBay Inc. and Yum! Brands Inc. are reporting their second-quarter results today. Profit by the gauge’s members increased 4.5 percent in the quarter, and revenue rose 3.1 percent, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Apple rose 2.4 percent to $97.58. IBM gained 2.2 percent to $192.60. The deal enables the iPhone maker to expand beyond individual customers and add more corporate clients through IBM’s sales force. IBM gets a boost in its effort to sell software and services to companies seeking to manage workers’ wireless devices.

Intel Forecast

Intel climbed 5 percent to $33.30. Third-quarter revenue will be $14.4 billion, plus or minus $500 million, the company said in a statement. Analysts on average estimated sales of $14.1 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Intel also added $20 billion to its stock-repurchase program, including $4 billion planned for the third quarter.

IGT jumped 10 percent to $17.07. Rome-based Gtech will pay $18.25 for each share for Las Vegas-based IGT, or $13.69 in cash plus 0.1819 shares in a newly formed holding company. That is 18 percent more than IGT’s closing price yesterday.

BlackRock added 1 percent to $327. The world’s biggest money manager reported adjusted earnings of $4.89 a share, beating the $4.46 average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Bank of America traded at $15.87 in premarket deals after posting second-quarter adjusted earnings of 41 cents a share, exceeding analysts’ projections. The figure excluded litigation charges.

 

Source: bloomberg

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