China raises the reserve requirement ratio by 50 basis points
By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock futures edged lower Friday, as China raised the reserve requirement ratio for banks, while Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke criticized Beijing’s currency policy.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJZ10 11,140, -36.00, -0.32%) dropped 22 points to 11,154 and S&P 500 index futures (SPZ10 1,194, -3.30, -0.28%) fell 2 points to 1,195.70.
Futures showed little reaction to news that China’s central bank hiked the reserve requirement ratio for banks by 50 basis points.
Earlier, Asian stocks finished mostly higher, with the Shanghai Composite index rising 0.8%.
At a conference organized by the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that China’s decision to undervalue its currency has hurt the global economic recovery.
The text of Bernanke’s speech was released late Thursday.
The Fed chief started delivering his remarks around 5:15 a.m. Eastern time.
The Dow index (DJIA 11,181, +173.35, +1.57%) rallied 173.35 points, or 1.6%, on Thursday, posting its biggest point and percent gain since Nov. 4.
In premarket trading, shares of Dell Inc. (DELL 13.67, +0.32, +2.36%) rose 5.4% after the computer maker said late Thursday that its third-quarter profit more than doubled, as revenue surged to $15.4 billion from $12.9 billion.
Several companies are scheduled to report quarterly results on Friday, including clothing retailer Ann Taylor Stores Corp. (ANN 23.75, -0.36, -1.49%) and food group H. J. Heinz Co. (HNZ 48.19, +0.44, +0.92%) .
In Europe, stock markets traded lower, as investors continued to follow talks in Dublin that may result in a big bailout package for Ireland.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index (ST:STOXX600 269.02, -2.13, -0.79%) dropped 0.5% in intraday trading.
The dollar index (DXY 78.29, -0.33, -0.42%) , which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, dropped 0.5% to 78.188.
