By Jennifer Coogan 1 hour, 12 minutes ago NEW YORK (Reuters) - Index futures were little changed on Thursday after news of higher-than-expected profit and an improved outlook from technology bellwether IBM (IBM.N) was offset by disappointing results from investment bank Merrill Lynch.IBM shares rose late on Wednesday after the computer services company raised its 2008 outlook. Its stock gained 2.1 percent before the opening bell.
But Merrill Lynch & Co Inc's (MER.N) stock fell 1 percent after it posted a bigger-than-expected loss after taking several billion dollars of write-downs on subprime mortgages and other risky assets.
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