U.S. Stocks Expected To Rise On Earnings; Home-sales Data Ahead

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Wall Street on Thursday headed to a higher start, with an unexpected decline in September orders for durable goods failing to dim investor cheer over profit reports including Motorola Inc.'s better-than-expected outlook for the fourth quarter.

Already tilted higher, stock futures only slightly trimmed gains after the release of two pieces of economic data. Stock investors seemed to brush aside the largely bearish figures in favor on corporate news.

Futures for the Dow Industrial Average were up 19 points at 13,725.

Those for the S&P 500 gained 2.50 points to 1,524.40, while Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 7.50 points to 2,210.50.

"Equities remained focused on better earnings reports, though dented by the weaker-than-expected round of durables and jobless-claims data," said analysts at Action Economics.

The Commerce Department reported a second monthly decline in orders for durable goods, which fell 1.7% in September instead of the 1.1% rise anticipated by analysts. .

At the same time, the Labor Department reported the average count of Americans filing for first-time jobless benefits during the past four weeks hit 324,750 last week, its highest level in seven weeks.

At 10 a.m., the Commerce Department will report on the sales of new homes in September.

Stocks on Wednesday trimmed their losses late in the day amid talk of an emergency Fed discount rate cut, said Action Economics analysts and others.

Ahead of the opening bell, market sentiment was bolstered by Motorola's outlook, along with EMC Corp. reporting a 77% rise in third-quarter profits.

In early trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for December delivery gained $5.50 to $771.10 an ounce, after rising $2.50 to $765.60 an ounce at Wednesday's close.

By Kate Gibson