NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Wednesday as investors remained cautiously optimistic about progress on plans to lessen the euro zone’s debt woes.

International auditors headed to Greece to scrutinize new austerity measures they must endorse for Athens to get the next tranche of aid.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel suggested that parts of a planned new 109-billion-euro ($148.6 billion) rescue for the debt-laden country could be reopened, depending on the outcome of the audit.

Recent efforts to solidify a euro zone rescue fund and alleviate the region’s sovereign debt crisis lifted stocks on Tuesday for a third consecutive session and came after four straight days of losses for the benchmark S&P 500.

“At least they are doing something and for the moment it has taken away the fear of a collapse for now,” said Frank Lesh, a futures analyst and broker at FuturePath Trading LLC in Chicago.

“It is certainly interesting that we had that nice rally yesterday and gave it all back late afternoon but it just shows how nervous the markets are and it is tough to commit. We will probably continue like this until there is a little more clarity and who knows when that comes.”

Market volatility could remain as traders react to European headlines.

Analysts also said equities would be supported by quarter-end “window dressing,” when portfolio managers drop underperforming stocks and buy outperformers.

S&P 500 futures rose 3.7 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration of the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures gained 35 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 4.5 points.

In the latest economic data, new orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods slipped in August on weak demand for motor vehicles, but a rebound in a gauge of business spending suggested the economy would avoid another recession.

In the latest quarterly earnings reports, spicemaker McCormick & Co Inc posted a profit that topped estimates, while discount chain Family Dollar Stores Inc recorded higher quarterly income.

Darden Restaurants Inc, parent of the Red Lobster and Olive Garden chains, posted a 6 percent drop in earnings.

Family Dollar shares slid 8 percent to $53.75 and Darden ticked up 2 cents to $47 in premarket trade.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks slipped on Thursday after data showed continued softness in the labor market but a shrinking trade gap, ahead of a speech by U.S. President Barack Obama detailing his plan for jobs growth.

Applications for unemployment benefits rose to 414,000 in the week ended September 3 from an upwardly revised 412,000 in the prior week, the Labor Department said.

A separate report showed the trade deficit narrowed considerably in July, a positive signal for growth in the third quarter after a sluggish first half.

“The trade balance was better than expected despite worse jobless claims, so that could move up (gross domestic product) estimates, and that is why we probably didn’t go down more than what we should have on the number,” said Sam Ginzburg, head of capital markets at First New York in New York.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI dropped 27.81 points, or 0.24 percent, to 11,387.05. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index .SPX fell 5.46 points, or 0.46 percent, to 1,193.16. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC shed 8.18 points, or 0.32 percent, to 2,540.76.

On the heels of the jobless data and last Friday’s payrolls report showing no jobs were created in August, Obama is expected to propose tax cuts for the middle class and businesses and new spending to repair roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will deliver a speech on the U.S. economic outlook to the Economic Club of Minnesota at 1:30 p.m. EDT (1730 GMT), but he is unlikely to outline new measures to boost the economy.

“I want to hear what Bernanke has to say, I want to hear what Obama has to say, which in turn is going to make Friday, for our market, a very interesting day,” said Ginzburg.

The European Central Bank signaled that its interest rate rise cycle had been halted, saying euro zone inflation risks were no longer skewed to the upside and economic growth would be slow at best. European stocks were little changed.

Caliper Life Sciences Inc (CALP.O) surged 41.4 percent to $10.43 after a deal to be bought by PerkinElmer Inc (PKI.N). PerkinElmer fell 3.2 percent to $21.35.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. regulators are investigating trading algorithms after they found that a computer-driven sale helped trigger May’s flash crash, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro said on Tuesday.

Although regulators have rolled out a program to help give a company’s stock a reprieve if it is in freefall, Schapiro said that more needed to be done.

“We really need to do a deeper dive,” Schapiro said at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit. “We are looking at whether these algos ought to have some kind of risk management controls.”

An SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission report found that the single trade, worth $4.1 billion, by a single trader helped trigger the brief crash May 6. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 700 points in minutes before recovering.

The SEC was already grappling with changes in the equity markets before the flash crash. Now the regulator is under political and public pressure to fix the fragmented markets, dominated by lightning computer trading on dozens of mostly electronic exchanges and alternative venues.

Regulations have not kept up with markets, Schapiro said.

(Reporting by Rachelle Younglai. Editing by Robert MacMillan)

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stock index futures rose on Monday, following two weeks of losses for the S&P and Dow, as sentiment was lifted by several potential mergers and deals.

Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) bid $24 a share in cash for data storage company 3PAR Inc (PAR.N), sending the stock up 37 percent to $24.70 in premarket trading. HP, a Dow component, fell 1 percent to $39.45.

Campbell Soup Co (CPB.N) may make a $2.3 billion break-up bid for Britain’s United Biscuits, which is owned by private equity firms PAI Partners and Blackstone Group LP (BX.N), according to the London-based Sunday Times.

And George Buckley, the chief executive of 3M Co (MMM.N), said the Dow component may spend about $2 billion on acquisitions in 2010, twice its previous estimate.

“All this M&A activity is a sign of confidence that the situation out there has a silver lining about it,” said Andre Bakhos, director of market analytics at Lek Securities in New York.

“Nothing seems to be of heavy impact, but these things are all adding up.”

Last week Intel Corp (INTC.O) moved to acquire software maker McAfee Inc (MFE.N) for $7.7 billion.

S&P 500 futures rose 5.6 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 37 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 11.5 points.

Concerns about the strength of the recovery have intensified in recent weeks, with weak economic data adding to the cautious tone and depressing trading volume levels.

A $20 billion compensation fund for economic victims of the BP Plc (BP.L) (BP.N) Gulf oil spill opens for business on Monday amid accusations that the rules established by its administrator are unfair. U.S.-listed shares of BP slid 1 percent to $36.03 in premarket trading.

October crude futures edged slightly higher to $74.12 per barrel, though prices were close to last week’s six-week lows on bulging inventories.

The Federal Reserve plans to reduce American International Group Inc’s (AIG.N) credit line by about $3.6 billion in a sign of growing confidence that the government bailed-out insurer can emerge from taxpayer support, Bloomberg said, citing a person with knowledge of the proposal.

U.S. stocks slipped on Friday and the S&P 500 and Dow fell for a second straight week on persistent concerns the recovery has tapered off. For the week, the S&P 500 was down 0.7 percent and the Dow slipped 0.9 percent, while the Nasdaq gained 0.3 percent on some positive outlooks in technology shares.

(Editing by Padraic Cassidy)

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The USDJPY traded at 91.65 after it weakened to 92.12, the lowest level since June 4 as speculation the worldwide economic recovery is intact damped demand for the safety of JPY. The NZDJPY was close to a four-week high before reports today may show Empire manufacturing expanded at a faster pace to 20 (prev. 19.11) and UK inflation increased 3.5% (prev. 3.7%) above the government’s 3% upper limit. The USD Index climbed to 86.63 after it fell to 86.18, the lowest since June 1. The BOJ said it will offer as much as 3 trillion JPY for a new program aimed at expanding credit available to companies for as long as four years to strengthen economic recovery and left interest rate unchanged at 0.1% announced in a statement today.

Asian currencies declined after Moody’s cut Greece’s bonds to junk, spurring concern investors will shun higher- yielding assets for the relative safety of the USD. The slide in Asian currencies is due to lower overall risk appetite after Greece’s downgrade and Asian currencies have also been rallying for a few days in a row, so a correction is expected. The USDMYR gained 0.5% to 3.2635, USDSGD climbed 0.2% to 1.3991 USDKRW strengthened 0.1% to 1,223.15. A report later today will show retail sales in Singapore increased 0.8% (prev. 2.4%). The won has dropped 7.8% this quarter, Asia’s worst performance, as Europe’s debt crisis bolstered demand for USDs and tensions with North Korea escalated. Taiwan’s USD was the only gainer among Asia’s currencies as USDTWD dropped 0.2% to 32.286 on mounting speculation the nation will sign a trade pact with China this month.

The AUDJPY weakened 0.5% to 78.25 for the first time in four days and NZDJPY declined 0.4% to 63.37 after it strengthened to 64.43, the highest level since May 18 and AUDUSD declined to 0.8553 while NZDUSD traded at 0.6935 after the RBA said the situation in Europe would weigh on the outlook for global growth. The AUD weakened versus all of its 16 major counterparts after the RBA said the situation in Europe had deteriorated significantly over the previous month. Policy makers said today in minutes from that meeting previous rate increases gave them “flexibility” to examine the impact of European events, as well as Australia’s inflation outlook. New Zealand house prices fell 1.4% (prev. -0.4%) for a second straight month as sales slumped, adding to signs that interest-rate increases may be gradual this year, house sales retreated 17.2% from a year earlier and home loan approvals declined 26%. RBNZ governor Bollard will likely raise borrowing costs at the next three reviews according to market analysts.

The EURJPY declined to 112.04 after it climbed to 112.87, the highest level since June 4 while EURUSD fell to 1.2211 on speculation the ZEW index of German investor and analyst expectations probably fell to 42 (prev. 45.8), the least since July 2009 and recovery will stall as governments slash spending to tackle the region’s debt crisis. Moody’s yesterday lowered Greece’s credit rating by four levels to Ba1, below investment grade, from A3 citing “substantial” risks to the nation’s economic growth from the austerity measures tied to a 110 billion EUR aid package from the EU/IMF stating that the outlook is stable. Earlier, the EURUSD gained as much as 1.5% after a report showed that European industrial production climbed the most since 1991, advancing to 1.2299, strongest since June 3.

Currency Tech

EURUSD
R 2: 1.2500
R 1: 1.2330
CURRENT: 1.2220
S 1: 1.2000
S 2: 1.1800

USDJPY
R 2: 95.00
R 1: 93.70
CURRENT: 91.45
S 1: 89.00
S 2: 88.00

GBPUSD
R 2: 1.5000
R 1: 1.4850
CURRENT: 1.4750
S 1: 1.4550
S 2: 1.4350

AUDUSD
R 2: 0.8700
R 1: 0.8600
CURRENT: 0.8560
S 1: 0.8350
S 2: 0.8000

• S: Strong, M: Minor, T: Trendline, K: Keylevel, P: Pivot

Published on Tue, Jun 15 2010, 07:43 GMT

fxstreet.com

With regard to the euro-dollar pair, it is showing slight incline where it is facing key resistance 1.3481 which represents 61.8% Fibonacci retracement to the upside trend that started in March last year. Still, the outlook for the euro is concerning with worries that Greece and other highly-indebted European economies will not be able to tackle their huge deficits. Today’s news showed that inflation and unemployment rose in March and February respectively. The pair is currently traded at 1.3440 while recording a high of 1.3448 and a low of 1.3382, where the coming support is seen at 1.3405 and next resistance is at 1.3490.

As for the sterling-dollar pair, it is showing advance for the fifth day on the daily charts; however, the pair is facing downside pressure from the 4-hour and 1-hour charts in the absence of economic data from the U.K. today. Despite the progress seen by the sterling, it may face pressure due to political worries and high deficit in Britain. Meanwhile, the pair is traded at 1.5132 after hitting a high of 1.5144 and a low of 1.5041 while it is expected to move between support at 1.5060 and resistance at 1.5145 then 1.5225.

Relative to the dollar-yen pair, it is continuing its rally on the daily and 4-hour charts. The pair spiked after breaching resistance at 91.65 which represents 23.6% Fibonacci retracement to the upside trend that started in December. Currently, the pair is traded at 93.21, hitting a high of 93.59 and a low of 92.73, whereas support is seen at 92.70 while resistance is at 94.00.

Published on Wed, Mar 31 2010, 13:45 GMT

fxstreet.com

In the euro zone, confidence slipped suddenly in February after reaching a record in January. After the improvement signaled in the third quarter, the pace of progress slowed in the fourth quarter and in the first quarter of 2010, raising concerns recovery may falter or be sluggish this year.

Other data to be released this week will show that unemployment climb to 10.0% in March from 9.9%, but meanwhile the main focus is not the rising jobless rate as before but is on the swelling budget deficit across EU members.

The data released recently from the euro zone is showing deterioration due to the cold weather, the unwinding of stimulus measures, and the Greek woes that reduced confidence in the euro area countries.

However, the outlook may improve in the coming period after the EU endorsed the German-French proposal of giving an aid to Greece through a combination between the IMF and EU loans. But debt concerns are still persisting despite the aid introduced last week to Greece as many EU countries are still suffering from high debt and may not be able to reduce their debt to the 3% ceiling set by the EU this year.

For instance, Fitch Ratings lowered Portugal’s sovereign credit rating to AA-minus from AA on Wednesday and said that it sees negative outlook for the country. Spain is also suffering from high debt along with other macroeconomic problems which may open the door for European economies to ask for assistance in the coming period.

Moving to the British economy, growth rebounded to 0.3% from 0.2% contraction in the third quarter, while annually GDP came in at -3.3% from -3.2%. Growth estimates this week are showing that the final reading will remain unchanged from the flash reading.

The preliminary reading showed that the incline was led by services output was which was revised to 0.5% from the previous 0.1%. The reading was lifted also by private consumption that climbed to 0.4% from 0.1% and government spending which spiked to 1.2% from the revised 0.4%.

Data released recently from the U.K. is showing improvement and providing evidence the economy is on the right track towards recovery. However, Darling mentioned in the annual budget report that growth this year will be between 1%-1.5% inline with previous expectations, while it is presumed to range between 3 and 3.5% next year, which lower than the prior expectations of 3.75%.

Nonetheless, aside from the political pressure of having a minority government, the main focus remains budget deficit woes that are threatening recovery in the economy. Darling said in his budget statement to the Parliament that he pledges to slash the budget deficit by half within four years, as the government is going to reduce borrowing without hurting the recovery of the nation.

Darling revealed that borrowing will retreat to 131 billion pounds in 2011-2012 then to 110 billion pounds in 2013-2012 till reaching 89 billion pounds by 2014-2015 then 74 billion pounds after that.

Published on Sun, Mar 28 2010, 09:34 GMT

fxstreet.com

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