BLBG: U.S. Stock Futures Extend Gains on Manufacturing, Prices Data
By Michael P. Regan
June 15 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures extended gains after reports showed manufacturing in the New York region expanded in June at a faster pace and prices of imported goods declined in May.
Futures on the S&P 500 expiring in September rose 0.7 percent to 1,093.5 as of 8:35 a.m. in New York after the benchmark for U.S. stocks yesterday slipped 0.2 percent. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.6 percent to 10,198.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s general economic index rose to 19.6, an 11th consecutive month of growth and in line with the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Readings greater than zero signal expansion in the so-called Empire State Index that covers New York, northern New Jersey and southern Connecticut.
The 0.6 percent decrease in the import price index was less than the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey and followed a revised 1.1 percent gain in April that was more than previously reported, Labor Department figures showed. Prices excluding petroleum rose 0.5 percent for a second month, led by higher costs for capital goods and metals.
Yesterday’s Retreat
U.S. stocks fell yesterday, extending the S&P 500’s retreat from April to 10 percent, after Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Greece’s credit rating to junk, halting an earlier rally of as much as 1.3 percent. Yesterday’s intraday gain sent the index as high as 1,105.91, near its 200-day average of 1,108, which is a key level monitored by investors who make trading decisions based on charts.
“I think today’s move is largely technical,” said London- based David Morrison, a market strategist at GFT. “U.S. traders will try and take the S&P 500 up through the 200-day moving average at 1,108. It feels like equities will try to push higher regardless” of the outcome of today’s economic reports.
Futures pared gains of as much as 0.8 percent today after the European Commission said in a draft document that Spain and Portugal need additional budget cuts to meet deficit targets announced a month ago even as their efforts to tame their shortfalls threaten to choke growth and produce a “snowball” effect on their debt levels.
European stocks advanced today, sending the Stoxx Europe 600 Index to its longest winning streak since March, as News Corp.’s offer for BSkyB sparked a rally in media stocks and helped offset a plunge in German investor confidence and Greece’s rating downgrade.
The Mannheim-based ZEW Center for European Economic research said its index of investor and analyst expectations, which aims to predict developments six months ahead, slumped to 28.7 from 45.8 in May. That compares to economists forecast for a drop to 42.
