MW: U.S. stock futures rally as Greece appears ready to accept bailout terms
U.S. stock futures jumped Wednesday, following a report that Greece’s prime minister is prepared to agree to most bailout terms set by the debt-burdened country’s creditors.
At the same time, Chubb Corp. soared in premarket trade after Insurer ACE Ltd. said it planned to buy property-and-casualty insurance firm.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average YMU5, +0.91% leapt 164 points, or 0.9%, to 17,686.00, and those for the S&P 500 ESU5, +0.80% rallied 16 points, or 0.8%, to 2,070.00. Nasdaq-100 futures NQU5, +0.85% picked up 37 points, or 0.8%, to 4,427.
Futures were propelled higher after the Financial Times reported Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is ready to accept nearly all of the conditions to a new bailout deal that its international lenders proposed over the weekend. Tsipras due to address his nation later Wednesday. Follow the latest news in the Greek debt crisis.
With that news, Wall Street will get trading in the second half of 2015 under way after a losing quarter for the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.27%
Stocks globally had been hit this week as Greece and its creditors failed to work out a deal allowing the country access to new bailout funds. The S&P 500 has felt the weight of turmoil in Greece; it finished the second quarter lower by 0.2%, snapping a nine-quarter winning streak. In Tuesday's trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.13% and the Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.57% ended slightly higher.
At the half-year mark, the S&P is 0.2% higher, while the Dow is 1.1% lower. The Nasdaq is up 5.3% so far this year. Read Need To Know: Humdrum first half bodes well for the rest of the year.
In economic news, a report on private-sector hiring showed 237,000 news jobs were created in June, topping economists’ estimates. Official government reports on monthly job gains is due to be released on Thursday, with economists forecasting 225,000 jobs created last month.
“With all the Greek furor, it’s hard to believe that a month has passed and nonfarm payrolls will be released tomorrow,” Brenda Kelly, head analyst at London Capital Group, wrote Wednesday.
A reading of 218,000 jobs would be “marginally better” than May’s reading of 201,000, said Kelly. “Any better number here could ramp up the monetary tightening speculation,” she said.
Data: Investors will get Markit’s reading of June manufacturing activity at 9:45 a.m. Eastern. Data on services activity for June will arrive from the Institute for Supply Management and construction-spending figures for May are both due at 10 a.m. Eastern. Figures on motor-vehicle sales for June should arrive throughout the day.
Corporates: Chubb CB, +32.96% shot up as much as 35% ahead of the open after ACE ACE, +9.47% said it plans to buy the speciality-insurance company in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $28.3 billion. ACE shares climbed as much as 11% premarket. ACE said the deal will immediately boost per-share earnings and book value and generate $650 million in savings.
Other markets: European stocks SXXP, +1.89% surged on Wednesday’s developments out of Greece. Asian markets overnight finished mixed. Stocks in Shanghai SHCOMP, -5.23% sank 5.2%, but Japan’s Nikkei NIK, +0.46% picked up 0.5%. Oil futures CLQ5, -1.29% fell more than 1% while gold prices GCN5, -0.30% edged slightly lower. The dollar was up against most of its rivals on the ICE Dollar Index DXY, +0.41%
