Wall St futures mixed; eyes on results, home sales

Thu Jul 24, 2008 6:31am EDT

(Reuters) Futures for the S&P were down 0.3 percent, for the Dow Jones industrial average DJc1 down 0.2 percent and for the Nasdaq NDc1 up 0.3 percent at 0940 GMT (5:40 a.m. EDT).

Companies reporting include 3M MMM, Bristol-Myers Squibb , Dow Chemical , Eli Lilly , Ford , Xerox XRX.

Meanwhile, key macro data is U.S. home sales at 1400 GMT (10 a.m. EDT) and jobless claims at 1230 GMT (8:30 a.m. EDT).

After the close on Wednesday the U.S. House of Representatives approved a housing market rescue legislation. The bill will now go to the Senate.

Qualcomm will be watched after it and Nokia late on Wednesday settled a 3-year, three-continent legal battle over patent licenses and royalties for the next 15 years. Qualcomm shares zoomed 22 percent in Frankfurt .

Microsoft said late on Wednesday that Kevin Johnson, president of its largest business division who spearheaded the company's pursuit of Yahoo Inc , was leaving the software maker. A source briefed on the matter reported that Johnson was joining Juniper Networks

Amazon.com shares were up 8 percent in Frankfurt after it posted earnings overnight.

(Reporting by Sitaraman Shankar; Editing by Quentin Bryar)