Last updated January 21st, 2009 6:50 AM ET---Today, U.S. stock futures are trading higher following better-than-expected results and an optimistic forecast for 2009 from International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) yesterday evening. Following the close Tuesday, IBM (NYSE:IBM) reported a fourth-quarter net income of $4.4 billion, or $3.28 per share, versus $3.95 billion, or $2.80 per share during the year-ago period and beating estimates of $3.03 per share. The N.Y.-based company also provided guidance for 2009 or $9.20 per share, beating estimates by 45 cents. Companies of note due to report today include AMR Corp (NYSE:AMR), UAL Corp. (NASDAQ:UAUA), BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) and United Technologies (NYSE:UTX), while Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) are due to report after the close. Other than the EIA's weekly report on oil inventories, the only economic report due out today is the housing market index, which is expected to be released at 1:00 PM. At the time of this report, S&P futures are up 12.68 versus fair value, Nasdaq futures are up 17.99 versus fair value and Dow futures are up 127.91 versus fair value.

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