Futures on major U.S. indices point to a higher opening on Monday indicating that stocks may rebound from its biggest sell-off this month on Friday.
Futures on the S&P 500 are up 0.52 percent, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average are up 0.44 percent and Nasdaq100 futures are up 0.51 percent.
The earnings season gets busier with results from Halliburton Co., International Business Machines Corp. and Texas Instruments Inc. due to be released on Monday.
Investors are cautious ahead of four major housing indicators will be released in the coming week. Major focus is on the Commerce Department reports on housing starts for June will be released on Tuesday. Housing starts declined 10 percent in May after the deadline for the tax credit expired at the end of April.
On Friday, US stock markets tumbled as U.S. consumer confidence sank to the lowest level in a year and General Electric, Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. and reported worse-than-estimated revenue.
Before the Market opens:
• European stock markets pared earlier losses on Monday as gains from International Power and Tomkins Plc. offset losses for banks and energy giant BP Plc.
• International Power shares surged more than 9 percent after GDF Suez, Europe’s largest natural-gas network operator, started talks to combine some of its assets with International Power to create an enlarged London-listed company majority-owned by GDF.
• Shares of UK engineering company Tomkins soared 35 percent this morning after it received a 325 pence a share takeover approach from a Canadian consortium.
• European markets are currently trading higher on Monday with FTSE 100 trading up by 19.48 points, DAX30 trading up by 16.46 points and CAC 40 trading up by 12.93 points.
• Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Ireland’s credit rating to "Aa2" from "Aa1" on Monday citing the government's "gradual, but significant loss of financial strength”. The agency is also expecting that the economic growth in the country to be below historical trends over the next three to five years because there will be no meaningful contribution from banking and real estate.
• Hungary's stocks and currency declined on Monday after talks between the government, the IMF and the European Commission fell through over the weekend without any conclusion on a programme review.
•BP Plc declined 4.5 percent after the oil company’s talks with Apache Corp. were said to stall. Electrolux shares declined after the company said that its second-quarter sales declined 0.6 percent to 27.31 billion kronor.
•UK home sellers cut prices for the first time this year in July and expected to cut more in the second half of 2010, according to Rightmove Plc. website.
• The euro rose 0.22 percent and is currently trading at 1.2959 against dollar as concern that the economic recovery may be faltering damped demand for the U.S. currency overshadowing Ireland’s debt rating downgraded by Moody’s Investors Service.
• Crude oil futures fell 0.17 percent and copper futures advanced 0.73 percent. In precious metal sector, both gold and silver gained 0.27 percent and 0.29 percent, respectively.
During Asian Market hours:
• Asian stock markets are mostly lower for third day on Monday after U.S. consumer confidence plunged and corporate results fell short of expectations. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.79 percent and Korea’s Seoul Composite declined 0.37 percent.
• Chinese Shanghai Composite gained 2.11 percent on speculation that the government was committed to supporting the Agricultural Bank of China's initial public offering to prevent it from dropping below its offer price.
