DJIA futures up 251 pts (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - New York, 16 Apr - US futures were slightly higher driven by strong gains by UnitedHealth and Morgan Stanley.

In premarket trade, UnitedHealth Group surged 7.44%. In the first quarter, the US healthcare company posted adjusted earnings of 6.91 dollars against 6.26 dollars in the same period a year ago.

Meanwhile Johnson & Johnson was down 0.13% after first quarter earnings per share increased to 2.20 dollars from a loss of 0.19 dollars, and adjusted EPS increased 12.4% to 2.71 dollars.

Bank of America was up 0.15% after reporting that in the first quarter net profit fell to 6.7 billion dollars, or 0.76 dollars per diluted share, from 8.2 billion, or 0.94 dollars per diluted share.

Morgan Stanley surged 2.94% after first quarter diluted EPS rose to 2.02 dollars from 1.70 dollars a year earlier.

At 1210 GMT, futures on the Dow Jones were up 251.00 points, or 0.66%, S&P 500 futures were up 14.00 points, or 0.27%, while futures on the Nasdaq were 30.75 points, or 0.17%, higher.

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(RADIOCOR) 16-04-24 14:14:12 (0468) 5 NNNN