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January 29, 2015

Stocks: The earnings are here

By CNNMoney

It's all about earnings right now.

Here are the five things you need to know before the opening bell rings in New York:

1. Expecting earnings: Alibaba, Ford, Coach and Time Warner Cable will report earnings before the opening bell, as well as oil companies Valero, Phillips 66 and ConocoPhillips.

Google, Amazon and Visa will report after the close.

U.S. stock futures are holding steady but Thursday's direction will likely depend on how well those earnings are received.

All the major indexes fell on Wednesday. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 196 points, while the S&P 500 slid 1.4%. The Nasdaq fell by nearly 1%.

2. Market movers -- Facebook, Qualcomm: Facebook shares were edging down by 1% premarket after the social networking giant reported fourth quarter results.

Qualcomm shares were dropping by about 8% premarket after the company cut its sales and earnings outlook. The company blamed the lower outlook on increased competition in China, among other things.

Shares in Royal Dutch Shell fell by about 3.5% in London after the company said it would cut spending on oil projects by $15 billion over the next three years.

This "confirm[s] that many projects are indeed unsustainable and unfeasible [with] the currently low oil prices," said Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets.

Shares in Samsung dipped by just over 1% in Asia after the company reported another set of disappointing results.

3. Investors lovin' McDonald's news: Investors are bidding up shares in McDonald's ahead of the open CEO Don Thompson announced his retirement. This comes a week after McDonald's reported awful financial results.

4. Greece markets steady: The main stock market index in Greece stabilized, trading up by about 2% after plunging Wednesday.

The index has fallen 12% since the start of the year as investors have grown increasingly worried about Greece's financial health following the election of a new government that wants to renegotiate the terms of its international bailout.

European markets were all edging down in early trading. Asian markets mostly closed with losses.

5. Economic announcements: The U.S. government will report weekly jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET.

At 10 a.m., new U.S. data on pending home sales will be released from December.

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