Stock Futures Rise on Greek Debt Deal

U.S. stock futures were pointing to a higher open Thursday a Greek debt deal was reportedly reached and initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell.

Author:: Andrea Tse
Publish date:: Feb 9, 2012 9:14 AM EST

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stock futures were pointing to a higher open Thursday a Greek debt deal was reportedly reached and initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell.

Futures for the

Dow Jones Industrial Average

were rising 17 points, or 18.1 points above fair value, at 12,860. Futures for the

S&P 500

were up 1.6 points, or 1.9 points above fair value, at 1349, and futures for the

Nasdaq

were up 3.8 points, or 5.5 points above fair value, at 2549.

Stocks finished higher Wednesday as the market digested news that the ECB remains divided over how it will contribute to a Greek debt restructuring and as Prime Minister Lucas Papademos began negotiations with Greek political leaders.

According to media reports Thursday morning, a Greek debt deal has been reached. Greek media reports say that leaders of the three parties backing the country's coalition government have agreed to an austerity deal outlined by the troika -- the European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund and European Commission -- and crucial to the ability of Greece to receive its next bailout from these European partners and the IMF. The reports say that expected, there will be a 22% cut to the national minimum wage; the entire wage structure was set to be lowered. The party leaders had reportedly also agreed to pension cuts, though to a degree not as large as the one as the troika had asked for. The debate over pension cuts had been one of the main stumbling blocks to reaching an agreement on the austerity measures and structural reforms for Greece. A statement from the prime minister's office was expected shortly.

The first major U.S. economic release of the week came out Thursday, with the Labor Department reporting that initial jobless claims fell 15,000 to 358,000 for the week ended Feb. 4 from the previous week's revised figure of 373,000. The 4-week moving average decreased by 11,000 to 366,250 from the previous week's revised average of 377,250, bringing hopes the U.S. unemployment rate would drop below 8% by the end of the year.

On Thursday, investors were also hoping the European Central Bank president Mario Draghi, after the central bank's meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, would shed some light on whether the ECB will try to help take some pressure off of Greece's massive debt burden by giving up profits on its €55 billion ($72 billion) in Greek bond holdings.

Separately, the Bank of England early Thursday injected another 50 billion pounds ($79 billion) of new money into the United Kingdom, which saw its economy shrink at the end of last year.


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London's FTSE was rising 0.28%, and Germany's DAX was gaining 0.50%. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei Average settled down 0.15%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index finished lower by 0.04%.

In corporate news,

Dow

component

Cisco Systems

(CSCO) - Get Report

, the networking-equipment maker,

topped analysts' earnings expectations

and raised its quarterly dividend by more than 30%. Cisco reported non-GAAP earnings of $2.6 billion, or 47 cents a share, in its fiscal second quarter on revenue of $11.5 billion.

Analysts were expecting Cisco to report earnings of 43 cents a share on revenue of $11.23 billion.

Groupon

(GRPN) - Get Report

posted a loss in its first quarterly report as a public company. The daily deals Web site, posted a pro forma adjusted

fourth-quarter loss

of $9.8 million, or 2 cents a share, on revenue of $506.5 million, more than triple the revenue recorded in the year-earlier equivalent period. The company said adjusted results in the latest quarter reflect a negative impact of 7 cents a share from high taxes on its international operations. Analysts were expecting adjusted profit of 3 cents a share on revenue of $475 million in the quarter.

Credit Suisse

(CS) - Get Report

, Switzerland's second-biggest bank, posted a fourth-quarter loss of 637 million Swiss francs ($698 million), wider than analysts' expectations of a loss of 431 million francs. A year earlier, the bank earned 841 million francs.

"Our performance for the fourth quarter 2011 was disappointing," said CEO Brady Dougan. "It reflects both the adverse market conditions during the period and the impact of the measures we have taken to swiftly adapt our business to the evolving market and regulatory requirements."

Credit Suisse recorded a restructuring charge in the quarter of 981 million francs.

Diamond Foods

(DMND)

, the snack company, said it needs to

restate its financials

for the past two years to properly account for certain payments to walnut growers.

The company also named an acting CEO and CFO, placing Michael Mendes and Steven Neil on administrative leave, and said it's working to complete the restatements and file required reports with the

Securities and Exchange Commission

, which is probing Diamond Foods along with the Justice Department.

March oil futures were up 66 cents to $99.37 a barrel, while April gold futures were up $3.40 to $1,734.70 an ounce.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury was falling 5/32, raising the yield to 2.002%, while the U.S. dollar index was down 0.3% at $78.49.

-- Written by Andrea Tse in New York.

>To contact the writer of this article, click here:

Andrea Tse