BLBG; U.S. Stock Futures Rise on Durable Goods Orders; Deere Climbs
U.S. stock-index futures gained after orders for durable goods topped economists’ forecasts last month, easing concern that business investment would plummet.
Deere & Co., Caterpillar Inc. and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. rose as the Commerce Department said booking for equipment meant to last several years fell 1 percent, a third of the drop forecast by economists in a Bloomberg survey. Owens- Illinois Inc. may advance after the world’s biggest maker of glass containers was picked to join the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.
S&P 500 futures expiring in March added 0.2 percent to 860.6 at 8:51 a.m. in New York. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures climbed 0.2 percent to 8,407 and Nasdaq-100 Index futures increased 0.2 percent to 1,187.25. Trading on the New York Stock Exchange will end today at 1 p.m., while exchanges in Germany and Italy were closed for the Christmas holiday.
Stocks in Europe and Asia retreated, sending the MSCI World Index to its fifth straight decline, on concern that deepening recessions in the U.S., U.K. and Japan will snuff out earnings growth. The MSCI World Index lost 0.2 percent to 886.38.
The U.S. stock market historically performs better during the Christmas week, according to Bespoke Investment Group LLC. The Dow average has risen an average 0.7 percent during the holiday season, compared with a 0.1 percent advance for all 4- day periods, data since 1900 from the Harrison, New York-based research firm show.
Biggest Annual Slump
The S&P 500 is headed for its biggest annual slump since 1931, having dropped 41 percent in 2008, as the collapse of credit markets sent the world’s largest economy into a recession and spurred $1 trillion in losses at financial firms.
Indexes fell yesterday as concern grew that emergency loans won’t save the auto industry, while home prices plunged and the government confirmed the economy shrank the most since 2001 last quarter.
“It is difficult to envisage a stronger economy until confidence is restored,” said Andrew Shard, a fund manager at Invesco Perpetual in Henley-on-Thames, England. “Unfortunately I do not think this is likely to happen for some time. A severe recession has been largely discounted in valuations.”
