Stocks set for higher open after G20
Wall Street was set to open higher on Monday on renewed risk-taking sentiment after the Group of 20 pledged to maintain 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, giving a boost to global stocks while pressuring the dollar as high-yielding and commodity-linked currencies benefited.
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.
Corporate mergers and acquisitions were in the spotlight. Kraft Foods Inc
General Electric Co
S&P 500 futures were up 9.3 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 82 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 15.50 points.
Healthcare companies were also in the spotlight after the U.S. House of Representatives approved a healthcare reform bill Saturday that would include a government-run health insurance option to compete with private insurers.
The initial impact may be (negative) ... that the government is over-reaching in its spending. But while the bill did make its way, the fight is going to be tougher and longer, said Rick Meckler, president of LibertyView Capital Management in New York, adding that the market reaction will be mixed.
Aetna Inc
Shares of McDonald's Corp
Sprint Nextel Corp
Oil jumped 1.4 percent and gold hit a record high above $1,110 an ounce, as the dollar index <.DXY> slid 1 percent on the outcome of the G20 meeting.
(Reporting by Angela Moon; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
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