US Stock Futures Flat Ahead of Earnings Reports, Economic Data

US stock futures are mostly flat this morning, ahead of earnings reports from major companies and economic data. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 9 points to 12,513.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 0.60 points to 1,302.80. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 4.75 points to 2,425.25. US stocks closed higher on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.78% to 12,578.95, the S&P 500 index gaining 1.11% to 1,308.04 and the Nasdaq 100 index surging 1.53% to 2,769.71. Data on consumer prices and housing starts for December will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Federal Reserve bank of Philadelphia is scheduled to report factory activity for January at 10 a.m. ET. Bank of America Corp BAC is projected to report its Q4 earnings at $0.15 per share on revenue of $24.08 billion. UnitedHealth Group Inc UNH is estimated to post its Q4 EPS at $1.03 on revenue of $25.6 billion. Johnson Controls Inc JCI is projected to post its FQ1 earnings at $0.62 per share on revenue of $10.52 billion. Morgan Stanley MS is projected to post a Q4 loss of $0.57 per share on revenue of $5.57 billion. Southwest Airlines Co LUV is estimated to post its Q4 EPS at $0.08 on revenue of $4.12 billion. Microsoft Corporation MSFT is estimated to post its Q2 EPS at $0.76 on revenue of $20.93 billion. Google Inc GOOG is expected to post its Q4 EPS at $10.49 on revenue of $8.41 billion. Intel Corporation INTC is expected to post its Q4 EPS at $0.61 on revenue of $13.72 billion. International Business Machines Corp IBM is estimated to post its Q4 EPS at $4.62 on revenue of $29.71 billion. eBay Inc EBAY reported a strong rise in its net income in the fourth quarter. EBAY projects Q1 earnings between $0.50 and $0.51 per share on revenue in the range of $3.05 billion to $3.15 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.54 per share on revenue of $3.16 billion. Eastman Kodak Company EK has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.31%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.21%, French CAC 40 index rose 0.80% and German DAX 30 index surged 0.18%. Asian markets ended mostly higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average surging 1.1222%, China's Shanghai Composite rising 1.31% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 0.05%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.3005% and India's Sensex surged 1.17%. Gold futures for February delivery gained $4.50 to $1,664.40 an ounce. Crude oil for February delivery surged $1.05 to $101.64 a barrel. The dollar index (DXY) dropped 0.22% to 80.31, versus 80.540 late Wednesday in North American trade.