OL: U.S. futures point to higher open for North American markets
TORONTO _ North American markets appeared headed for a rebound Tuesday, with premarket trading pointing higher after weeks of unrelenting selling.
The gains in U.S. futures followed an advance on most overseas markets, as investors around the world cherry pick for bargains among battered stocks.
But analysts feared the rally may not last as markets search for direction amid a dearth of fresh economic and corporate data.
The lone economic report on Tuesday will come from the U.S. Commerce Department, which releases data on wholesale trade inventories for January.
Meanwhile U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke will speak before the Council of Foreign Relations on overhauling the U.S. bank regulatory system.
The market has grown increasingly displeased with the U.S. administration´s efforts to help the financial industry and the overall economy, so any news out of Washington will be closely watched.
Ahead of the market´s open, Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 117, or 1.8 per cent, to 6,645. Standard & Poor´s 500 index futures added 12.20, or 1.8 per cent, to 688.10, while Nasdaq 100 index futures gained 17.75, or 1.7 per cent, to 1,064.75.
The Toronto stock market closed modestly lower Monday, adding to last week´s steep losses with financial shares again leading the way downward.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 24.53 points at 7,566.94, with energy stocks providing lift as oil prices moved closer to US$50 a barrel.
Wall Street´s Dow Jones industrial average ped 79.89 points to 6,547.05, weighed down by a 7.7 per cent in component Merck, which offered to acquire Schering-Plough in a cash-and-stock deal valued at US$41.1 billion. Schering-Plough rose 14.2 per cent.
On Tuesday the Canadian dollar opened at 77.45 cents US, up 0.47 of a cent from Monday´s close.
Light, sweet crude for April delivery rose 28 cents to US$47.35 a barrel in electronic premarket trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Overseas, Hong Kong´s Hang Seng index jumped 3.1 per cent. Japan´s Nikkei stock average fell 0.4 per cent. In late morning trading, Britain´s FTSE 100 was up 1.3 per cent, Germany´s DAX index was up 1.5 per cent, and France´s CAC-40 was up one per cent.
