Stock Futures Hint at Higher U.S. Open
Premarket futures were hinting at a higher open for stocks in New York Thursday, following a report that the Treasury Department may take equity positions in U.S. banks. An encouraging earnings report from tech bellwether
IBM
(IBM) - Get Report
also was bolstering sentiment.
Futures for the
S&P 500
were up 23 points at 1004 and were 14 points ahead of fair value.
Nasdaq
futures were better by 40 points at 1360 and were 19 points above fair value.
Stocks on Wednesday traded chaotically before closing with losses after the
Federal Reserve
and central banks from other countries issued a coordinated cut in interest rates to alleviate the credit crunch.
Ahead of the new day's trading,
The New York Times
reported that the Treasury may take ownership positions in U.S. banks to improve confidence in the financial system. The U.K. has pursued a similar plan by taking partial national ownership in
Royal Bank of Scotland
(RBS) - Get Report
and
Barclays
(BCS) - Get Report
.
Following its announcement earlier this week that it would set up a facility to buy commercial paper from U.S. businesses, the Fed said it would enlist
Pimco
, a unit of
Allianz
(AZ)
, to help it manage the large amount of debt it intends to buy.
Separately, the Fed said it would grant insurance company
(AIG) - Get Report
up to $37.8 billion in exchange for fixed-income securities. The cash infusion comes on top of the $85 billion already lent out in September to keep the company from going bankrupt.
Among other insurers,
MetLife
(MET) - Get Report
has recently discussed a potential merger with
Hartford Financial
(HIG) - Get Report
, according to a report in
The Wall Street Journal
. The report said the discussions didn't lead to a deal, but that they indicate the strain the credit crunch has exacted from insurance firms.
Elsewhere, the
Journal
reported that
National City
(NCC)
was in discussions with other banks, perhaps
PNC Bank
(PNC) - Get Report
or
Bank of Nova Scotia
(BNS) - Get Report
about potentially selling itself.
Looking at corporate earnings, IBM, a component of the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
, preannounced its third-quarter earnings, saying it made a profit that increased year over year and topped analyst estimates.
In commodities, crude oil recently was up 41 cents at $89.36. Gold was declining $13.70 to $892.80.
Longer-dated U.S. Treasury securities were experiencing mixed action. The 10-year note was down 21/32 to yield 3.72%, and the 30-year was up 1-8/32, yielding 3.98%. The dollar was higher vs. the yen and pound but weakening against the euro.
Overseas, European indices, such as the FTSE in London and the DAX in Frankfurt, were mostly higher. Asia was mixed, as the Nikkei in Japan closed on the downside while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong finished with gains.
