Treasury to unload final 234 million AIG shares in $7.6 billion sale
By Kate Gibson and William L. Watts, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock-index futures held modest gains Tuesday as investors remained optimistic about talks to avert deep spending cuts and tax increases otherwise known as the fiscal cliff.
The White House and House Speaker John Boehner’s office held further talks Monday aimed at breaking a logjam in talks over the fiscal cliff, news reports said, with neither side pointing to tangible signs of progress. Read: Republicans have surrended on fiscal cliff
The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said the talks have seen a significant shift in recent days, becoming more “serious.” See: Talks on fiscal cliff take positive turn: WSJ .
S&P 500 Index futures SPZ2 +0.25% rose 2.8 points, or 0.2%, to 1,423. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJZ2 +0.21% advanced 24 points, or 0.2%, to 13,211. Nasdaq 100 futures NDZ2 +0.43% rose 10.25 points, or 0.4%, to 2,660.75.
U.S. stocks posted a strong finish Monday, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA +0.11% and the S&P 500 SPX +0.03% to their highest levels since Election Day. See: U.S. stocks rise on hopes for fiscal-cliff talks .
Attention turns to the two-day meeting of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee that starts Tuesday. Economists expect the FOMC to announce $45 billion in monthly Treasury purchases to start when the existing Operation Twist bond-buying program expires. See: Fed to do what it can to ease cliff uncertainty .
Stock futures showed little reaction to data from the Commerce Department showing the trade deficit climbed 4.9% to $2.2 billion in October.
Data on October wholesale inventories is expected at 10 a.m. Eastern.
Shares of Delta Airlines Inc. DAL +0.30% gained after it said it would acquire a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. from Singapore Airlines Ltd.
American International Group AIG +2.22% shares rose in premarket trading after the Treasury Department said it would sell its remaining shares of the insurer. See: U.S. Treasury to sell remaining AIG stake .
Retailer Dollar General Corp. DG -0.49% said fiscal third-quarter earnings rose 21% on increased sales of consumable items. The company raised the lower end of its per-share earnings estimate for the year by a nickel, forecasting profit of $2.82 to $2.85 a share. Read: Big earnings on Tuesday: Dollar General, Magellan .
Belden Inc. BDC +0.84% on Tuesday said it would pay $515.7 million to buy PPC, a privately-held specialist in broadband connectivity technology based in Syracuse, N.Y. See: Belden buying PPC for $516 million .
Kate Gibson is a reporter for MarketWatch, based in New York. Follow her on Twitter @MWKateGibson.
William L. Watts is MarketWatch's European bureau chief, based in Frankfurt. Follow him on Twitter @wlwatts.
