BL: U.S. Stock Futures Fluctuate on Prospects for Greece Rescue; Dell Advances
By Rita Nazareth
Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures fluctuated, a day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied back above 10,000, as investors weighed the prospects of Germany bailing out Greece.
Futures erased most of an earlier advance as a German official said no decision has been made yet on a Greek rescue. Sprint Nextel Corp. lost 4.9 percent as the third-largest U.S. wireless carrier reported sales that trailed analyst estimates, while Dean Foods Co. slumped after the nation’s biggest dairy processor forecast profit below projections. Dell Inc., the world’s third-largest maker of personal computers, advanced as Bank of America Corp. analysts recommended the shares.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index expiring in March added 0.1 percent to 1,067.6 at 8:25 a.m. in New York after earlier climbing as much as 0.6 percent. Dow futures climbed 0.2 percent to 10,067.7 while Nasdaq-100 Index futures added 0.2 percent to 1,755.
“It’s going to continue to be pretty choppy,” Mark Bronzo, a money manager in Irvington, New York, at Security Global Investors, which oversees $22 billion, told Bloomberg Radio. “Domestically, the economy is very slowly getting better. That’s the good news. But, of course, we have the sovereign risk issues in Europe. And hopefully they won’t spread to other parts of the world. We’re going to remain in a choppy, volatile market.”
Dow 10,000
U.S. stocks yesterday rallied, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average back above 10,000, as prospects for a bailout of Greece eased concern that deteriorating government finances will derail the global economic recovery. The Dow increased 1.5 percent, the biggest gain since Nov. 9.
Futures rose earlier after an official said German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told lawmakers that options for helping Greece extended beyond loan guarantees. The lawmaker, who attended a briefing at the Parliament in Berlin today, spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions were confidential.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s testimony on the central bank’s strategy to exit stimulus programs will be released at 10 a.m. in Washington. He was originally scheduled to speak before the House Financial Services Committee on “Unwinding Emergency Federal Liquidity Programs and Implications for Economic Recovery.” The hearing was postponed due to snow and hasn’t been rescheduled.
More than 300 companies in the S&P 500 have reported fourth-quarter earnings since Jan. 11, and about 76 percent have beaten analysts’ estimates, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Sprint Nextel Corp., Dean Foods, Equinix Inc. and Omnicom Group Inc. are among companies announcing results today.
Falling Confidence
Confidence in the world economy dropped in February on concern worsening government finances in some European nations will derail the global recovery, according to a Bloomberg survey of users on six continents.
The Bloomberg Professional Global Confidence Index dropped to 54.9 from 66.6 in January, when the reading was at the highest level since the series began two years ago. The index exceeded 50 for a seventh month, which means there were more optimists than pessimists. The survey was conducted last week, before Germany and other European Union nations signaled they may help support Greece’s government finances.
Most Bloomberg users were less optimistic on the outlook for their equity markets in the next six months, with respondents in the U.S., the U.K. and Spain turning bearish.
To contact the reporter on this story: Rita Nazareth at rnazareth@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: February 10, 2010 08:36 EST
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