U.S. markets are set to open high, with all the S&P 500 sectors in the green, as investors are waiting the Fed´s report on monetary policy.
Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (HPE, Financial) gained more than 12% in premarket trading on the heels of the company posting its financial results for the first quarter. For the quarter, the company reported annual net sales growth of 11.6% to $7.7 billion, while its profit advanced to 34 cents per share. Moreover, the results exceeded the analysts’ estimates by 12 cents in earnings per share and $630 million in revenue. In addition to that, the company announced a plan to return $7 billion to shareholders via share repurchases in 2019 and a 50% dividend hike starting in the third quarter of fiscal 2018.
Gainers
• Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK, Financial)
• Apache Corp. (APA, Financial)
• NRG Energy Inc. (NRG, Financial)
Losers
• General Mills Inc. (GIS, Financial)
• SCANA Corp. (SCG, Financial)
• Henry Schein Inc. (HSIC, Financial)
Global markets
The main European stock markets closed in positive territory. The U.K.'s FTSE lost 0.25%, France's CAC gained 0.02%, Germany's Dax advanced 0.16% and Spain's Ibex retreated 0.78%.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei gained 0.72%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.97%, India’s BSE Sensex jumped 0.95% and China´s SSE Composite rose 0.63%.
Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.
