MW: U.S. stock futures soar in wake of ECB comments
By Barbara Kollmeyer
MADRID (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock market futures soared on Thursday in a shortened day of trade. Regular markets will not open in observance of the Independence Day holiday. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJU3 +1.31% surged 137 basis points, or 0.9%, to 15,052, while those for the Standard & Poor's 500 index SPU3 +0.84% added 13.6 points, or 0.9%, to 1,622.70. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index NDU3 +0.94% rose 28.25 points, or 1%, to 2,964.75. Speaking to reporters after the European Central Bank left key interest rates unchanged, central bank president Mario Draghi said rates wouldn't rise for "an extended period." European stocks jumped and the euro EURUSD -0.78% tumbled against the dollar. This comes after an earlier surprise statement from the Bank of England Monetary Policy, which also left key interest rates unchanged. The statement explaining the BOE policy decision was also viewed as dovish and triggered a surge in U.K. stocks and a sharp fall for sterling GBPUSD -1.35% versus the dollar.
