U.S. Stock-Index Futures Advance Before Confidence Report

By Jonathan Morgan

U.S. stock-index futures advanced, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will rise for a third day, as investors awaited data on consumer confidence to gauge the strength of the world’s biggest economy.
Monster Beverage Corp. soared 21 percent in pre-market New York trading after Coca-Cola Co. agreed to buy a stake in the company. J.C. Penney Co. gained 3.2 percent after posting a narrower second-quarter loss. OmniVision Technologies Inc. fell 2.6 percent after Robert W. Baird & Co. cut its rating on the maker of digital-imaging components for consumer electronics.
S&P 500 futures expiring next month climbed 0.2 percent to 1,957.7 at 6:27 a.m. in New York. The equity benchmark gauge yesterday added 0.4 percent to reach its highest level since July 30. It has risen 1.2 percent this week -- heading for its biggest weekly gain in
more than a month -- amid speculation that the crisis in Ukraine won’t escalate. Dow Jones Industrial Average contracts added 43 points, or 0.3 percent, to 16,725 today.
“The main reason why futures are up is more to do with a relief rally and the fact that the U.S. economy should be able to weather the storm and grow, but at a slower pace,” Ion-Marc Valahu, a co-founder and fund manager at Clairinvest in Geneva, said in a phone interview.
U.S. data at 9:55 a.m. New York time may show consumer confidence in the world’s largest economy rebounded from its lowest level since March. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s preliminary sentiment index rose to 82.5 in August from 81.8 last month, economists forecast.

Earnings Reports

Estee Lauder Cos. posts results today. Nineteen companies, including Home Depot Inc. and Hewlett Packard Co, release earnings next week. About 75 percent of those that have reported this season have beaten analyst estimates for earnings, while 64 percent have exceeded sales projections, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Monster Beverage soared 21 percent to $87. Coca-Cola agreed to swap some brands and buy a 17 percent stake in Monster Beverage for about $2.15 billion. The stake increases Coca-Cola’s exposure to the growing energy-drink market. Coca-Cola added 0.6 percent to $40.41 in Germany.
J.C. Penny (JCP) climbed 3.2 percent to $10.05. The department-store chain that hasn’t had an annual profit in three years said its net loss in the three months ended Aug. 2 shrank to $172 million from $586 million a year earlier. Sales rose 5.1 percent to $2.8 billion. Analysts estimated $2.78 billion, on average.
OmniVision Technologies dropped 2.6 percent to $27.55. Robert Baird downgraded the California-based company to neutral from outperform, similar to a buy rating, with an estimated stock price of $27.