Stock futures rise after G20; M&A action in focus
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a 1 percent gain at the open on Monday as investors took comfort from a pledge by the Group of 20 to keep economic stimulus in place until a recovery was reassured.
Finance ministers and central bankers of the G20 agreed on Saturday to keep the aid flowing until a economic recovery was sustainable.
Global stocks rose on the news, while the dollar fell broadly as high-yielding and commodity-linked currencies benefited from the renewed risk-taking sentiment.
Cheap money continues to fuel the rush into stocks, not just in the U.S., but on a global scale (after G20), said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners in New York.
Kraft Foods Inc
General Electric Co
S&P 500 futures were up 11 points and 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 gained 85 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 17 points.
Sprint Nextel Corp
Data showed China's passenger cars sales surged 75.8 percent in October from a year earlier, extending the explosive growth in recent months as government incentives continued to lure customers.
On the earnings front, Electronic Arts Inc
Oil jumped more than $1 to $79 a barrel and gold hit a record high above $1,100 an ounce as the dollar index <.DXY> slid 1 percent on the outcome of the G20 meeting.
U.S. stocks ended the week 3 percent higher, shrugging off the news of the unemployment rate hit 10.2 percent, the highest in 26-1/2 years.
(Reporting by Angela Moon; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
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