J.P. Morgan in focus on report ‘London Whale’ losses could hit $9B
By Kate Gibson and William L. Watts, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock futures fell Thursday as European leaders readied to make another attempt at overcoming their differences to stem the long-running euro-zone debt crisis.
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act is also expected.“It’s a lot like who wins the election. It’s a matter of getting it resolved and companies will be able to react once they know the ground rules,” said Andrew Fitzpatrick at Hinsdale Associates. See markets stream .
Stock-index futures eased their drop after the government said jobless claims fell by 6,000 to 386,000 last week and the U.S. economy grew 1.9% in the first quarter.
Down 86 points ahead of the reports, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJU2 -0.74% were lately off 80 points to 12,473. S&P 500 futures SPU2 -0.62% dropped 7.3 points to 1,318.20, while Nasdaq 100 futures NDU2 -0.62% lost 13.75 points to 2,544.
“Not much may come from the EU summit, but with expectations among investors being so low [any] sign of good news should propel [the] market higher,” said Mike McCudden, head of derivatives at Interactive Investors in London.
“An increase in the firepower available to bail out Spain may satisfy the markets in the short term, as [Spain’s] ability to pay the bills will soon run out,” he said. Read MarketWatch summit preview.
European stocks were on the defensive, with banks in particular losing ground ahead of the summit. The Stoxx Europe 600 index XX:SXXP -0.76% dropped 0.9%. Full report: Europe Markets.
Shares of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. JPM -3.40% fell in premarket trade after The New York Times reported the credit-derivative trading loss the firm initially estimated at $2 billion may have ballooned to as much as $9 billion. The report cited sources described as having been briefed on the situation. Read story on J.P. Morgan report.
A J.P. Morgan spokesman declined to comment on the report.
Shares of News Corp. NWS +2.05% rose 1.3% ahead of the opening bell. The company said it will separate its publishing and media and entertainment businesses into two, separate publicly traded companies.
News Corp.’s publishing entities include Dow Jones & Co., which comprises, among other properties, The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Dow Jones Newswires and MarketWatch, the publisher of this report. See: News Corp. confirms plan to split company in two .
Family Dollar Stores Inc. shares FDO -1.97% fell in premarket action. The retailer on Thursday reported rises in profit and sales but fell short of analysts’ forecasts. Read Market Pulse on Family Dollar results.
Nymex crude-oil futures CLQ2 +0.21% rose 46 cents to trade at $80.67 a barrel in electronic trade. Gold futures GCQ2 -0.65% lost $9.70 an ounce to change hands at $1,568.70.
The dollar index DXY +0.20% , which tracks the U.S. currency against a basket of six major rivals, was flat at 82.722.
The euro EURUSD -0.1869% fell to $1.2434 versus the dollar. The U.S. currency fetched 79.403 Japanese yen USDJPY -0.4033%
Kate Gibson is a reporter for MarketWatch, based in New York.
William L. Watts is MarketWatch's European bureau chief, based in Frankfurt.
