Stock futures rise after Asia, Europe bounce
LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. stock futures ticked up on Thursday, pointing to a
Wall Street rise, as global stock markets recovered from Wednesday's falls,
but a disappointing update from Apple Computer Inc. (NasdaqNM:AAPL - News)
will weigh on techs.
Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER - News), Pfizer (NYSE:PFE - News) and Motorola (NYSE:MOT
- News) are among top blue chips due to report later with the figures set to
be scrutinized after the mixed bag so far this quarter.
U.S. housing starts, jobless data and the Philadelphia Fed survey fill the
economic agenda.
By 1045 GMT, U.S. stock futures were showing gains of between 0.1 and 0.2
percent for the three main indexes (SPH6)
(DJH6) (NDH6).
"We believe there will be a rebound rally, as bargain hunters look for
cheap stocks to make a quick profit," said Neill Pickering, head of group
sales and trading at Pacific Continental Securities.
"However, our medium term outlook is for a correction in indices and
stocks by 5-10 percent, before seeing a slow rebound in mid-March."
After Wednesday's closing bell, shares in Apple fell 5.4 percent on the Inet
electronic system after its quarterly results and outlook missed Wall Street
estimates.
Internet auction site Ebay Inc. (NasdaqNM:EBAY - News) also slipped after
hours as it failed to raise its 2006 outlook despite strong quarterly figures.
The technology sector was battered in the previous session after worries over
Intel (NasdaqNM:INTC - News) and Yahoo (NasdaqNM:YHOO - News) earnings and a
slide on Japan's Nikkei (^N225 - News) triggered by a fraud investigation in
to Intenet firm Livedoor (Tokyo:4753.T - News).
The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index (NasdaqSC:^IXIC - News) ended down
23.05 points, or 1 percent, at 2,279.64.
The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI - News) closed 41.46 points, or 0.38
percent lower, at 10,854.86. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (^SPX - News)
was down 5 points, or 0.39 percent, at 1,277.93.
Despite the bad newsflow, U.S. stocks were poised to bounce back after the
Nikkei rebounded to rise 2.3 percent, its biggest daily percentage gain in 3
months, and European shares (^FTEU3 - News) also recovered some lost ground.
In corporate news, Dutch group Philips Electronics (Amsterdam:PHG.AS - News;
NYSE:PHG - News) announced an agreed takeover offer for U.S. emergency
healthcare response firm Lifeline Systems (NasdaqNM:LIFE - News), valuing the
firm at $750 million.
The Wall Street Journal reported a group of private-equity investors and
grocery chain Supervalu Inc (NYSE:SVU - News) have submitted a new buyout bid
to Albertsons Inc.'s (NYSE:ABS - News) board of directors, citing people
familiar with the matter.
Britain's Times said Hilton Hotels Corp. (NYSE:HLT - News) has held talks with
buyout company the Blackstone Group over the sale of some of the hotels it
acquired from its UK namesake.)
