Futures suggest a slightly higher start after climbing to their best levels of the session (S&P futures +5.0, Nasdaq futures +5.2) following the better-than-expected ADP employment report. Energizer reported
a increase in net profit, although the results fell short of Wall
Street's estimate as economic conditions impact its battery business. FedEx was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
In earnings news, Moody's, Office Depot, Office Max and Viacom topped expectations. Several companies fell short of estimates, including Comcast, Garmin and MetLife. Shares of Wyeth and Elan are
getting hammered in premarket trading on disappointing data regarding
their Alzheimer drug; WYE is down 14.4% and ELN is down 32%.
In
other news, the SEC extended its temporary rules to restrict naked
short selling on several financial stocks and President Bush signed the
housing bill into law that includes support for Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac .