U.S. stock futures dropped, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will snap two days of gains, as the euro area’s finance ministers prepared for talks on a bailout for Greece.
Groupon Inc. plunged 15 percent in German trading after reporting an unexpected fourth-quarter loss. Visa Inc. (V) rose 2.6 percent in Frankfurt after the world’s biggest payments network said fiscal first-quarter profit climbed 16 percent as consumers increased their use of credit and debit cards.
Futures (SPH2) on the S&P 500 expiring in March fell 0.2 percent to 1,343.8 at 7:28 a.m. in New York. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures expiring the same month slipped 21 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,822 today.
“The Greek problem is not resolved yet, and the deal has so far proven to be quite elusive,” said Manish Singh, the London-based head of investment at Crossbridge Capital, which has more than $2 billion under management. “The rally we’ve seen has lasted quite a bit, so it’s time to reassess and not get lost in the euphoria.”
U.S. stocks advanced yesterday, pushing the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to a seven-month high, as Greece’s Prime Minister Lucas Papademos held talks with the leaders of the three political parties that support his government to obtain their backing for further austerity measures.
Greek Financial Aid
Greece’s Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said that uncertainty remains on the terms of a 130 billion-euro ($172 billion) rescue package for his country before a meeting of euro-area finance ministers today.
“There are issues outstanding that must be resolved by the time the Eurogroup meets,” Venizelos told reporters.
Greece faces a 14.5 billion-euro bond payment on March 20 and is struggling to obtain the financing needed to avert a collapse of the economy that could spark a new round of contagion in the euro area.
European Central Bank policy makers meeting in Frankfurt today will keep their benchmark interest rate at a record low of 1 percent, according to 55 of 57 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Two economists predicted a cut to 0.75 percent. The central bank announces its decision at 1:45 p.m. Frankfurt time and President Mario Draghi addresses journalists 45 minutes later.
In the U.K., the Bank of England raised its target for bond purchases to 325 billion pounds ($516 billion), more than a quarter of current outstanding gilts, according to a statement in London today. The increase was forecast by 34 of 50 economists in a Bloomberg News survey.
U.S. Jobless Claims
In the U.S., a Labor Department report at 8:30 a.m. in Washington may show that the improvement in the job market extended into this month as initial jobless claims were little changed last week at 370,000 after 367,000 in the previous week, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey.
Payrolls climbed by 243,000 workers in January, the biggest increase in nine months, a Labor Department release showed on Feb. 3. The unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent, the lowest since February 2009, the report said.
Groupon Inc. tumbled 15 percent to $21 in German trading. The largest daily deals website had an unexpected fourth-quarter loss. The company cited higher taxes in its international operations.
TriQuint Semiconductor Inc. (TQNT) dropped 7 percent to $6.36 in German trading after the chipmaker forecast first-quarter earnings, excluding some items, of 1 cent to 3 cents a share. That compares with the average 3 cent analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey.
Visa Inc. rose 2.6 percent to $111.15 in Frankfurt trading after the San Francisco-based company said net income for the three months ended Dec. 31 rose to $1.03 billion, or $1.49 a share, from $884 million, or $1.23, a year earlier. The average estimate of 26 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was for earnings per share of $1.45. Visa authorized a new $500 million share repurchase program.
Bank of America Corp. (BAC), the second-biggest U.S. lender by assets, added 1 percent to $8.21 in early New York trading, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) gained 0.6 percent to $116.87.
To contact the reporter on this story: Peter Levring in Copenhagen at plevring1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Rummer at arummer@bloomberg.net
