Futures News

PARIS (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.45 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.44 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.16 percent at 0850 GMT (3:50 a.m. ET). On Saturday, China's central bank raised interest rates for the second time in just over two months as it stepped up its battle to rein in stubbornly high inflation. The People's Bank of China said it will raise the benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points to 5.81 percent and lift the benchmark deposit rate by 25 basis points to 2.75 percent. A winter blizzard moved across the northeastern United States on Monday, disrupting air and rail travel and forcing motorists to deal with blowing snow and icy roads at the end of the busy Christmas weekend. Oil climbed to a 26-month high on Monday as the blizzard in the U.S. Northeast offset uncertainty over Chinese fuel demand following...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were mixed on Wednesday, pressured by rising bond yields and a stronger dollar. Yields rose along with the greenback following Tuesday's deal to extend tax cuts that intensified worries about inflation and the costs of the government's debt burden.  Higher bond yields makes it more expensive for consumers and businesses to borrow, while stocks and the dollar have moved in opposite directions of late. A rise in yields and the dollar could also draw money away from equities. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose to 3.25 percent overnight, a level not seen since late June and beyond Tuesday's high of 3.18 percent. Adding negative sentiment was news the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has issued more than a dozen subpoenas in its investigation of insider trading on Wall Street, potentially undermining public confidence in the markets. The S&P 500 faces resistance at the 1,228 level, which represents the 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement of the 2007-2009 bear market slide,...

PARIS (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Monday, as stocks were poised to trim last week's strong gains, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.34 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.21 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.33 percent at 0930 GMT. On Sunday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told the CBS program '60 Minutes' the Fed could end up buying more than the $600 billion in U.S. government bonds it has committed to purchase if the economy fails to respond or unemployment stays too high. European stocks, however, lost ground in early trade, with the FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index down 0.1 percent and Spain's IBEX 35 <.IBEX> falling 1 percent, as nagging worries over the euro zone debt crisis eclipsed Bernanke's comments. Investors awaited the outcome of a meeting of euro zone finance ministers, who face pressure to boost the size of a 750 billion euro safety net for debt-swamped members in...

By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. futures regulator intends to unveil on Dec. 16 its long-awaited revised plan to limit speculative positions held by commodity traders, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Monday. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is grappling with how to set and police the controversial limits. Furthermore, due to its complexity there could be further delays, said another source closely monitoring the issue. It would be unsurprising if the proposal was postponed until the new year -- one of several items that may be delayed as the CFTC races to meet deadlines set under the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, the industry source said. The position-limit rule was supposed to be one of the first items tackled by the CFTC after the Wall Street reform act passed in July. However, the matter will now be left to the agency's last scheduled rule-making hearing for the year, reflecting the difficulty the CFTC has had in writing a draft...

By Chris Sanders NEW YORK (Reuters) - S&P 500 stock index futures rose at the start of trade on Sunday after the EU and IMF agreed help to bail out Ireland with loans to tackle the country's banking and budget crisis. Nervousness about Ireland and the possibility it could lead to bigger problems in the euro zone has weighed on stocks in recent weeks. The resolution of a rescue should lead to short-term gains, analysts said. Ireland, facing widespread public anger over its handling of the crisis, formally requested the aid on Sunday evening. The rescue is aimed at protecting Europe's wider financial stability. "Investors will like it," said Richard Sichel, chief investment officer of Philadelphia Trust Co in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. "But it doesn't make other problems go away, there will still be concerns out there." S&P 500 futures rose 6.50 points to trade at 1,204.60. The rescue is the second this year after the bailout of Greece in May, but will only quell concerns about...

NEW YORK, Nov 9 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Tuesday as the euro erased early losses against the dollar and commodity prices rose, with stocks looking to resume their climb to new two-year highs. * U.S. crude oil futures CLc1 hit a fresh two-year top after bullish comments from an industry group, while copper hit its highest since July 2008, helped by falling inventories coupled with supply concerns. * The U.S. Federal Reserve's attempt to spur the economy by buying $600 billion in Treasury debt has helped commodity prices and led stocks to rally over the last two months. Equities have also developed a close inverse relationship with the dollar. For a Q&A on that relationship. * Renewed concerns about euro zone economies weighed on the euro, which hit its lowest in more than a week versus the dollar, before recovering to sit flat. * S&P 500 futures SPc1 rose 3.2 points and were above fair value, a formula that...

By Angela Moon NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Tuesday as investors awaited results from the mid-term elections and the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy-setting meeting. Voters could sweep Democrats from power in Congress and slam the brakes on President Barack Obama's legislative agenda. Polls indicated Republicans will gain control of the House of Representatives, while Democrats retain control of the Senate. The Fed is expected to announce a program of large-scale asset purchases on Wednesday following a two-day meeting. Expectations the Fed will inject at least $500 billion into the economy are already built into the market. "This is kind of a historic week. There's an awful lot of anticipation, so whatever good or bad news that's expected, depending on your perspective, has been priced in. There's an element of waiting and seeing in markets right now," said Duncan Richardson, chief equity investment officer at Eaton Vance in Boston. "The prospect of good news has been priced in,...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.14 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.17 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.14 percent at 0900 GMT. * Texas Instruments Inc <TXN.N> will be in focus after it warned its fourth-quarter revenue will be hurt by slowing demand for chips for computers and televisions, sending its shares lower in extended trading, even though its results beat Wall Street forecasts. [ID:nN25274454] Shares in Texas Instruments traded in Frankfurt <TXN.F> were down 0.1 percent. * Investors await a flurry of quarterly results on Tuesday, including earnings from DuPont <DD.N>, Ford Motor Co <F.N> and Bristol-Myers Squibb <BMY.N>. On the macroeconomic side, data expected on Tuesday include the Conference Board's October consumer confidence, the S&P Case/Shiller Home Price Index for August, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's October indexes on area manufacturing and service sectors. * Shares of financial services...