MW: U.S. stock futures head higher on Europe bank relief
ADP report due at 8:15 a.m. Eastern
By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures Wednesday pointed to a partial bounce after the last session's hammering, helped after European banks sought a smaller amount of central bank loans than markets had anticipated. But a report on jobs looms as worries about the global economy intensify.
S&P 500 futures rose 8.5 points to 1,043.90 and Nasdaq 100 futures added 12.5 points to 1,776.00. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 63 points.
U.S. stocks fell sharply to finish at their lowest level of the year Tuesday after a drop in U.S. consumer confidence and in leading indicators in China dimmed hopes of a global economic recovery. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 268 points to fall considerably below the 10,000 mark, and the S&P 500 ended at its worst levels since late October. Yields on two-year Treasury notes hit an all-time low.
One of the worries that contributed to Tuesday's slide, the health of Europe banks, was partly alleviated Wednesday after the European Central Bank said it issued 131 billion euros of three-month loans. Given that a 442 billion euro one-year lending program is due to expire Thursday, the allocation was interpreted by the market that the Continent's lenders have alternatives for financing besides the central bank. See full story.
The euro (CUR_EURUSD 1.2279, +0.0095, +0.7797%) rallied after the results of the ECB tender, as did the shares of Europe banks to push the Stoxx Europe 600 index up 0.3%.
Still to come Wednesday will be ADP's estimate of private-sector employment, two days ahead of the government's report.
A Chicago-area manufacturing gauge will come out shortly after the open.
Bonds declined, with yields on the two-year notes edging up 2 basis points to 0.63% and yields on 10-years also up 2 basis points to 2.97%.
The worries over China continued, however. Chinese shares fell for the sixth straight session to end at their worst level in nearly 15 months, with the Shanghai Composite retreating 1.2%.
Monsanto (MON 47.34, -0.46, -0.96%) headlines a thin list of earnings-related news.
Portugal Telecom (PT 10.03, -0.09, -0.89%) rallied in Lisbon after Telefonica (TEF 55.19, -3.11, -5.33%) lifted its bid for the Portuguese carrier's stake in a Brazilian mobile arm to €7.15 billion.
