Replies to post #317776 on $Stock*Shop*Charts*News*Option$

[Tuff-Stuff]

Yep, saw remarks abt the Loonie, and full expect them to try and smack gold after the open tdy...articles abound though that banks are buying

[Stock Lobster]

BL: U.S. Stock-Index Futures Fall on Concern EU Plan Won't Solve Debt Crisis

By Sarah Jones

May 11 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures fell, after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index yesterday surged by the most in more than a year, on concern an almost $1 trillion emergency lending package for European countries will hamper growth.

Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. aluminum producer, declined 2.7 percent in early trading in New York. Metal prices fell after Chinese inflation accelerated at the fastest pace in 18 months, increasing pressure on the government to raise borrowing costs. MBIA Inc. dropped 7 percent after the largest bond insurer posted a first-quarter loss.

June contracts on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index declined 1.1 percent to 1,144.00 at 12:33 p.m. in London. The S&P 500 yesterday surged 4.4 percent and the VIX, the benchmark for U.S. stock options, had a record drop after European policy makers unveiled an unprecedented loan package and a program of bond purchases to contain the region’s sovereign-debt crisis. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost 0.9 percent to 10,648 and Nasdaq 100 futures slid 1 percent to 1,921 today.

“Gains from the $1 trillion bailout were short-lived as speculators foresee tough cutbacks for the troubled European states,” said Manoj Ladwa, a senior trader at ETX Capital in London. “Fears that China is overheating and could raise rates soon also has traders on the backfoot today.”

Significant Risks

Marek Belka, the director of the International Monetary Fund’s European department, yesterday said he doesn’t consider the European rescue package a “long-term solution.” ECB council member Axel Weber said the bank’s purchase of government bonds poses “significant” risks, Germany’s Boersen-Zeitung reported.

Yesterday’s advance for the S&P 500 followed an 8.7 percent slide since April 23 and the biggest weekly retreat since the start of the bull market in March 2009 as concern grew that European leaders weren’t doing enough to keep indebted nations from defaulting.

Alcoa retreated 2.7 percent to $12.25 in early trading, trimming some of yesterday’s 4.9 percent advance, as base metals including copper, lead and nickel fell on the London Metal Exchange.

Asian commodity producers fell today after a Chinese statistics-bureau report showed inflation accelerated, bank lending exceeded estimates and property prices jumped by a record, increasing pressure on the government to raise interest rates and let the currency appreciate.

A separate report showed industrial production last month in China, the world’s biggest metals user, expanded 17.8 percent from a year earlier, less than the 18.5 percent gain forecast by economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

MBIA Loss

MBIA declined 7 percent to $8.68 in New York after the bond insurer reported a first-quarter loss of $7.22 a share, largely the result of an accounting rule that required the company to revalue some of its obligations. That compares with a profit of $3.34 a year earlier.

Priceline.com Inc. dropped 13 percent to $217.58 in Germany after the second-biggest online travel agency said second- quarter profit will fall short of analysts’ estimates after the euro weakened and the political crisis in Greece threatened consumers’ travel plans.

To contact the reporters on this story: Sarah Jones in London at [e-mail].

Last Updated: May 11, 2010 07:34 EDT