Upbeat European Economic Indicators Lift US Stock Futures

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February 14, 2012

New York, February 14 (FinanceEnquiry.com) - Upbeat economic indicators coming out of Europe pushed up US stock-market futures on Wednesday, as investors await earnings and retail-sales data. Although futures fell initially after Moody’s Investors Service slashed the ratings and outlooks of several European countries, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures went up 4 points to 12839 and Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index futures went up 1.9 points to 1351. The Nasdaq 100 futures also rose 5.25 points to 2573.�

The transition from the effect of slashing the ratings by Moody’s to the surge in futures was helped by the upbeat data from Germany. The more-than-expected rise of Germany’s ZEW expectations index for February led to the first positive reading since May for investor sentiment.

After being in the red for most of the morning, the Stoxx Europe 600 index went up 0.2 percent to 263.60. Wall Street stocks ended Monday broadly higher with the Dow Jones Industrial Average moving up 72.81 points, or 0.6 percent to 12874.04 at the close.

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The Greek parliament’s approval of austerity measures that are necessary to obtain a bailout and prevent default also helped in lifting the U.S. and other global markets. Crude-oil futures for March delivery went up 70 cents to $101.60 a barrel and gold futures for April delivery dropped $2.40 to $1,722.50 an ounce.

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