By Simon Kennedy, MarketWatch LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock-market futures were broadly flat Monday as firms detailed their exposure to the alleged $50 billion fraud by Bernard Madoff and after President George Bush signaled he may move quickly to prop up the auto sector. S&P 500 futures fell 0.8 point to 884.60 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 1 point to 1,216. Dow industrials futures rose 7 points. Stocks on Friday erased early losses to close higher after the Bush administration said it would step in to prevent a failure of U.S. automakers amid fears that more job losses would deepen the recession. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 64.59 points, the S&P 500 climbed 6.14 points and the Nasdaq Composite added 32.84 points. The economic calendar for Monday includes the December Empire State Index, a gauge of manufacturing activity in the New York region, as well as industrial-production data for November. But investors are more likely to be looking ahead to Tuesday's Federal Reserve interest-rate decision, where rates are expected to come down half a point to 0.5%. The dollar was fairly steady Monday, gaining 0.1% against the yen to 90.83 yen, while the euro rose 0.2% to $1.3472. Crude-oil futures rose before a meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries later in the week, where production is expected to be cut again. Light crude for January delivery rose $2.03 to $48.31 a barrel in electronic trading. As more details of the alleged fraud by former Nasdaq Chairman Bernard Madoff emerged, Banco Santander said its customers had an exposure of around $3.1 billion though its Optimal asset-management business, while Japan's Nomura has an exposure of around $302 million. Late Sunday Huntsman Corp. ended its agreement to be acquired by Hexion Specialty Chemicals Inc. and reached a settlement over litigation. Huntsman said it's due payments totaling $1 billion. In international markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 5.3% and the French CAC 40 index added 1.1%.

Source