Stocks Open With Slight Gain (DJIA, DIS, TWX, BWLD, VMED, WU)
U.S. stocks opened with a slight gain on Wednesday on continuous hop that Greece would reach a deal to cut back its budget in an attempt to get another bailout to avoid bankruptcy.
Despite the fact that Greece has unable to met its various deadlines, markets are now expecting that the country’s politicians would be able to get another round of bailout money worth €130 billion ($170 billion).
Dow futures are up 8 points at 12,886. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 futures are up 3 point to 1,350. The Nasdaq composite rose 7 points to 2,911.
Leaders in Greece are working on a draft deal on further austerity measures demanded to secure a new bailout, which would be significant to determine if the country would be able to avoid bankruptcy next month.
The office of Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said Wednesday that the heads of the three parties backing his interim government got the 50-page document, drafted with the country’s debt inspectors, earlier in the day.
The country has already received €110 billion ($145 billion) in international rescue loans over the past couple of years, but that turns out to be insufficient now. Hence, the country needs another round of bailout money.
In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was dawn 0.2% at 5,880 while Germany’s DAX rose 0.40% to 6,879. The CAC-40 in France was 0.34% higher at 3,424.
The Walt Disney Company (Public, NYSE:DIS) is trading higher by 0.61% to $41.23 despite the company missed analysts target. The company generated revenue of $10.78 billion in its first-quarter, below analysts’ projections of $11.19 billion.
Time Warner Inc. (Public, NYSE:TWX) soared 2.90% to $39.20 and made a new 52-week high of $29.22 after the company reported better than estimated fourth-quarter results. Moreover, the company announced its plans to buy back as much as $4 billion in stock and enhance its dividend by 11%.
Buffalo Wild Wings (Public, NASDAQ:BWLD) soared 13.80% to $79.86 after the company said that it earned $13.63 million or $0.73 a share, topping analysts’ estimates by 6 cents. The stock made a n all-time high of $81.19 today.
Virgin Media Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:VMED) rose 4.50% to $25.37 after the company’s Chief Executive Officer Neil Berkett made a remark that Virgin Media is considering talks with video-streaming providers to add shows and movies to its TiVo recording service.
The Western Union Company (Public, NYSE:WU) shares slumped 7.36% to $18.25 on poor earnings forecast. The company projects to earn $1.75 a share in its FY2012, missing analysts’ target of $1.81.
