9:15am (EST) We have a lot going on this morning and most of the news coming out before the bell has been positive. This has helped lift futures which are pointing to a slightly higher open. Of course, all eyes have been on Goldman Sachs (GS, $149.44) which absolutely crushed Wall Street’s estimates. The company reported earnings of $4.93 a share and revenues came in at $13.8 billion. The Street had forecast earnings of $3.54 per share for the quarter on revenue of $10.7 billion. In pre-market trading the stock is at $148. Elsewhere, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ, $57.72) also beat estimates as it stated the company earned $3.2 billion, or $1.15 a share, in the quarter on sales of $15.2 billion. J&J put a cherry on top when it also confirmed its 2009 guidance, saying earnings for 2009 would be between $4.45 and $4.55 a share. We also got some good economic news as PPI rose 1.8% in June. Most economists had were factoring a rise by 0.1%. Retail sales popped a better-than-expected 0.6% and was the strongest sales report since January’s 1.7% increase. You would think with all of the good news, futures would be a lot higher…Dow futures are up 29, S&P 500 futures areup 2 while the Nasdaq futures are slightly lower by 2. It should be an interesting open but from the looks of things the open isn’t going to be as strong as hoped. Rick@MomentumOptionsTrading.com]]>
