Selloff Showing Signs of Abating?

Wall Street is holding the bar high for corporate America, relatively unimpressed by the latest round of corporate earnings.

A tumble in shares of IBM (NYSE:IBM) pushed the Dow Industrials down 83 points yesterday to 13032.75. Big Blue's 3.5% slide accounted for more than two-thirds of the Dow's final drop.

IBM's lackluster first-quarter report made some investors question if the year's tech boom will turn bust. Even Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares fell modestly yesterday.

Futures early Thursday morning are pointing to a higher open, with the Dow indicating a gain of 75 points.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) posted stronger-than-expected numbers for its first quarter after Wednesday's closing bell. Profits grew 7% to just over $1 billion, and revenue grew to $7.6 billion. Both measures topped Wall Street expectations.

AmEx also said its cardholders spent more money on their credit cards in the beginning of the year -- a positive sign for the overall health of the U.S. economy as consumer spending accounts for 70% of GDP. American Express also said cardholder defaults were down in the quarter.

Traders will also be looking at shares of Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) , and Yum Brands (NYSELYUM), owner of Pizza Hut, KFC, and Taco Bell, after the trio reported last night.

If you want to buy a car that's still worth something five years from now, consider this: Edmunds.com is out with its winners for the brands with the best retained value. Honda took top honors in the mainstream segment with an average retained value of 47.9% after five years; the Acura won in the luxury car segment with an average retained value of 44.6%; and the Honda Civic surprisingly beat out the Toyota Prius in the hybrid market.  Several Ford (NYSE:F) cars got high marks, too.