Stock Futures Fall as China Boosts Rates

U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open Monday following the long Christmas holiday weekend as markets weighed China's decision to raise interest rates.
By Melinda Peer ,

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -- U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open Monday following the long Christmas holiday weekend as markets weighed

China's decision to raise interest rates.

Futures for the

Dow Jones Industrial Average

were down by 36 points, or 25 points below fair value, at 11,486. Futures for the

S&P 500

were 4 points lower, or 3 points below fair value, at 1249, and

Nasdaq

futures were down by 4 points, or 2 points below fair value.

Stocks finished Thursday's session mixed while oil prices touched a two-year high.

On Monday, the February crude oil contract was down by 31 cents to trade at $91.20 a barrel.

Over the weekend,

China raised interest rates for the second time in little more than two months as the government increased efforts to combat inflation.

On Monday, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was closed for a holiday while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.8%. The FTSE in London was also closed while the DAX in Frankfurt was down by 1.2%.

There are no economic reports scheduled for Monday's session.

U.S. airline companies such as

Delta Air Lines

(DAL) - Get Report

,

JetBlue Airways

(JBLU) - Get Report

and

US Airways

(LCC)

may come under pressure as

a blizzard on the East Coast forced the cancelation of more than 1,400 flights and the closure of New York area airports.

The February gold contract, the most actively traded gold future, traded $1.10 higher at $1,381.60 an ounce.

The dollar weakened against a basket of currencies with the dollar index down by 0.3%. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note weakened 13/32, lifting the yield to 3.448%.

.

--Written by Melinda Peer in New York

.

Disclosure: TheStreet's editorial policy prohibits staff editors and reporters from holding positions in any individual stocks.

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