MW: U.S. stock futures rise to kick off big earnings week
U.S. stock futures crept higher Monday ahead of earnings from giants like Caterpillar and McDonald's and as the biggest drug sector deal since 2000 was unveiled.
S&P 500 futures rose 3.8 points to 827.30 and Nasdaq 100 futures added 5 points to 1,169.20. Dow industrial futures rose 46 points.
Stocks finished mostly higher on Friday, with only a poor set of results from General Electric weighing on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The Dow industrials fell 45 points, but the Nasdaq Composite added 11 points and the S&P 500 rose 4 points.
"The macro picture is still ugly but that doesn't mean you can't have sharp rallies," said Andrew Lynch, a portfolio manager at Schroder Investment Management in London. Earnings will be in full focus as 137 S&P 500 components report results this week. Standouts for Monday include American Express McDonald's and Caterpillar Pfizer meanwhile said it's going to buy rival Wyeth for $68 billion in cash and stock. Pfizer also reported a 90% profit drop for the fourth quarter.
In pre-open action, Wyeth shares rose close to 5%, while Pfizer fell 4%.
Shares of Crucell tumbled 12% as Wyeth pulled out of talks to buy the Dutch biotech.
Meanwhile, shares of Barclays and ING surged in Europe, with Barclays saying they won't need more capital and ING getting the Dutch government to absorb 80% of the losses on its 27.7 billion euro portfolio of Alt-A mortgage securities.
ING said it could cut 7,000 jobs, and fellow Dutch conglomerate Philips Electronics announced plans to cut 6,000 jobs.
Key economic indicators for Monday include leading indicators and existing home sales, both for December.
Gold futures re-took the $900 an ounce level on Monday, a level it dipped above and below on Friday. Futures were trading up $10.20 to $906 an ounce.
Eugen Weinberg, an analyst at Commerzbank, noted the SPDR Gold Trust's holdings climbed another 13.5 tons.
"This means that almost 40 tons were channeled into SPDR within just one week, clear evidence that investors are going increasingly for safety," he said in a note to clients.
Three-month dollar LIBOR crept higher to 1.18% from 1.17%.
Oil futures traded near Friday's close of $46.47, and the dollar advanced vs. the Japanese yen.
European stocks advanced, with gains for banks leading the FTSE 100 up by 1.2% in London.
Japanese stocks ended at their lowest levels in nearly three months on Monday, though many other Asian markets were shut for the Lunar New Year. The Nikkei 225 ended 0.8% lower.
