U.S. stock futures pointed to some recovery Thursday, although investors remained cautious amid fears that a tightening in U.S. lending could hurt corporate and economic growth. Nokia jumped over 7% in pre-market trading after it said its Q2 earnings more than doubled. Eastman Kodak Co. and Viacom reported better-than-expected quarterly results. Further in earnings news, Lenovo Group posted a 12-fold jump in quarterly profits,beating analyst expectations.
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9:00AM U.S. stock futures pointed to a positive opening, helped by strong earnings from Nokia, Eastman Kodak.U.S. stock futures pointed to some recovery Thursday, although investors remained cautious amid fears that a tightening in U.S. lending could hurt corporate and economic growth. Market also welcomed news that both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank interest rates unchanged, in line with expectations. Nokia (NOK: chart) jumped over 7% in pre-market trading after it said its Q2 earnings more than doubled. Eastman Kodak Co. (EK: chart) and Viacom (VIA: chart) reported better-than-expected quarterly results. Further in earnings news, Lenovo Group posted a 12-fold jump in quarterly profits, beating analyst expectations.Walt Disney & Co. (DIS: chart) edged up after posting a 5% profit rise and agreed to buy Club Penguin for $300 million. Starbucks (SBUX: chart) added 1.2% after it reported an in-line-with-estimate 9% profit rise on 20% sales growth.On the economic news front, the Labor Department report said that weekly jobless claims in the latest week rose 4,000 to 307,000. After early losses, S&P 500 futures rose 3.1 points at 1,473.00 and Nasdaq 100 futures added 6 points at 1,966.50. Dow industrial futures rose 22 points. 8:15AM Eastman Kodak swung to profit in Q2.Eastman Kodak (EK: chart) said Thursday it swung to a Q2 profit, benefiting from lower costs, a $31 million increase in traditional earnings and a $97 million increase in digital earnings. During the quarter, the company earned $592 million, or $2.06 a share, compared with a loss of $282 million, or 98 cents a share last year, easily beating estimates of 39 cents per share on revenue of $10.19 billion.The company posted a loss from continuing operations of $135 million, or 47 cents a share vs. a loss of $355 million, or $1.24 a share, a year ago. Eastman Kodak said quarterly net sales declined 6.6% to $2.51 billion. The company’s sales in its consumer digital imaging group fell to $1 billion from $1.11 billion a year ago, while sales in its graphic communications unit gained 2% to $929 million. The company expects 2007 revenue decline on the range of 4% to 7%.
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