U.S. stock futures pointed to a second advance in a row on Friday as the U.S. government injected $20 billion into Bank of America and guaranteed losses on over $400 billion in assets of both Bank of America and Citigroup. S&P 500 futures rose 17.3 points to 856.60 and Nasdaq 100 futures added 21.75 points to 1,199.00. Dow industrial futures rose 146 points. Markets also rose overseas, with the Nikkei 225 rising 2.6% in Tokyo and the FTSE 100 rising 3% in London. The dollar recaptured the 90 yen level, rising 0.8%. "The predilection being shown by the U.S. government to continue to put up the cash and guarantees required to support the too-big-to-fail players is being lapped up by the markets," said Martin Slaney, head of derivatives at GFT in London. "Bank lending is the key to recovery," said strategist Ewen Stewart at Investec. "We believe, without direct government action, bank balance sheets are too impaired and access to funding too weak for lending trends to increase significantly. The pressure for unconventional state action will increase as the year develops." The government announced early Friday that it will invest $20 billion in Bank of America and protect an asset pool worth $118 billion. Citigroup meanwhile will be guaranteed on $301 billion of assets; Citi said it had finalized terms of the protection that had been announced in late November. Bank of America and Citigroup each reported massive losses for the fourth quarter: $1.8 billion for Bank of America and $8.3 billion for Citi. Merrill Lynch, which was acquired by Bank of America in a deal that didn't close until after the fourth quarter, lost over $15 billion. Citi also announced a plan to split into two units, with one unit made up of brokerage and retail asset management, local consumer finance and a special asset pool. In pre-open trade, both Citi and Bank of America rose 11%. Separately, the FDIC said it's going to extend its temporary liquidity guarantee program to up to 10 years, from a current three years. Allied Irish Banks skidded in Dublin trade, however, as the Irish government nationalized rival Anglo Irish Bank. Other companies reporting results include Charles Schwab & Co. , the discount broker. Outside of financials, Intel edged 2% higher as the world's top chip maker reported a 90% profit drop, which was in line with analyst estimates. Analysts at Baird Research said it was too early to buy. "Management's expectation for utilization rate normalization in the second half (is) unlikely given the magnitude of the revenue decline in the fourth quarter and first quarter, and lack of permanent manufacturing cost reduction measures so far, in our view," they said. Biotech Genentech slipped 2% after predicting current-year earnings below analyst estimates. Friday also will feature another batch of economic data, including consumer price data for December that's expected to show the first decline since 1955. Treasury inflows for November, industrial production for December and University of Michigan consumer sentiment for January also will be released on a busy economics day. The bond market will be closing early, at 2 p.m. Eastern. U.S. stocks closed slightly higher Thursday in a volatile session in which shares of both Bank of America and Citigroup tumbled. After falling below 8,000, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 12 points to 8,212. The S&P 500 rose a point and the Nasdaq Composite added 22 points.

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