HP, HP, hooray?

Strong results from HP, Applied Materials have stock futures pointing to higher open.
August 17, 2005: 6:07 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks could get a lift from strong tech earnings, particularly those of Dow component Hewlett-Packard, at Wednesday's open Wednesday.

U.S. stock futures were little changed in early trading, but a comparison to fair value indicated a higher opening for stocks following Tuesday's fall for major U.S. stock indexes due to oil concerns.

After Tuesday's close, computer and peripheral maker Hewlett Packard (Research) reported both earnings and revenue that topped forecasts.

In addition Applied Materials (Research), which makes equipment used by chipmakers, reported better than expected earnings and raised its sales guidance.

In European trading early Wednesday, Dow component HP's shares were up more than 4 percent while AMAT gained almost 3 percent.

Oil prices were down in early trading ahead of the weekly report on U.S. fuel inventories.

The September light crude futures contract for NYMEX lost 4 cents to $66.04 a barrel in electronic trading, while the October contract for Brent crude fell 11 cents to $64.97.

Major markets in Asia closed slightly lower Wednesday. Major European markets were lower in early trading.

In economic news, economists are forecasting that the Producer Price Index gained 0.5 percent in July; the measure of wholesale prices was unchanged in June. The so-called "core PPI," which measures wholesale prices excluding food and energy prices, is expected to be up 0.1 percent following a 0.1 percent decline in June.

Treasury prices were lower, lifting the yield on the 10-year note to 4.22 percent from the 4.20 percent level late Tuesday. The dollar gained ground against on the euro and the yen.