Stock futures signal gains on Wall Street
Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.42 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.53 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.36 percent at 5 a.m. EST.
On the macro front, investors awaited U.S. data for personal income and construction spending as well as the Institute for Supply Management's January manufacturing index, while on the earning front, ExxonMobil Corp
Investors also awaited the White House's budget for fiscal 2011, which begins on October 1. President Barack Obama will seek to strike a balance between taming skyrocketing U.S. budget deficits and giving the economy a boost to ease the pain of double-digit unemployment.
A congressional source told Reuters that the White House would project a record $1.6 trillion budget deficit in the current 2010 fiscal year that ends September 30. That's an increase from the $1.4 trillion gap posted in 2009.
The new president of Japan Airlines Corp <9205.T> said the bankrupt carrier has not yet decided whether to stick with partner American Airlines
Oil was little changed on Monday, trading close to six-week lows amid concerns about global growth and sluggish oil demand, while the euro edged up against the dollar, recovering slightly from recent losses, but continued to hover close to seven-month lows, dented by concerns over the fiscal health of some euro zone countries.
China's manufacturing powered ahead in January, providing more evidence of its robust economic health to markets fretting about Beijing's policy tightening and the dire state of government finances around the world.
Shares in UBS
Japan's Nikkei average finished flat on Monday as investors picked up shares of companies that reported bullish earnings, while shares of Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T>, which had fallen almost 14 percent in the past week on its recall woes, slipped 1.2 percent.
European stocks dipped in early trade, led lower by energy shares such as Total
U.S. stocks dropped on Friday, as worries about fiscal turmoil in Europe and a drop in technology stocks pushed the S&P 500 to its worst monthly decline since February 2009.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 53.13 points, or 0.52 percent, to 10,067.33. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> lost 10.66 points, or 0.98 percent, to 1,073.87. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> fell 31.65 points, or 1.45 percent, to 2,147.35.
The recent sell-off has seen the S&P 500 tumble 6.7 percent in the last eight trading sessions.
(Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Hans Peters)
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