Wall Street heads to higher open
NEW YORK -- Wall Street headed for a rebound Monday amid speculation that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates to ward off a recession.
There is little in the way of corporate or economic news expected during the session. Instead, investors are looking toward Thursday's speech from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke for clues about the central bank's intentions.
Further moves by the Fed at its Jan. 29-30 meeting can't come soon enough for some traders. Wall Street dropped sharply on Friday after a government report showed a jump in the unemployment rate and sluggish payroll growth.
In just the first three trading days of 2008, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 3.50 percent, the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 3.86 percent, and the Nasdaq composite index dropped 5.57 percent.
On Monday, Dow futures rose 37 points, or 0.24 percent, to 12,924.00. Broader indexes also indicated a higher open, with S&P 500 futures up 5.00, or 0.35 percent, at 1,427.90; and Nasdaq futures up 2.00, or 0.10 percent, at 1,987.00.
Bond prices were little changed in overnight trading Monday after a rally during the past week. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.89 percent from 3.87 percent late Friday.
Investors may get some relief Monday with crude prices falling. Oil dropped as energy traders reacted to the possibility of a U.S. recession, based on last week's disappointing employment report. A barrel of light, sweet crude fell 45 cents to $97.46 in pre-opening trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
More clues about the economy are expected from fourth-quarter earnings season. Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. on Tuesday will be the first of the 30 Dow Jones industrials to report results.
In corporate news, Time Warner Inc. could be in focus after the entertainment company announced it plans to release high-definition movies on Blu-ray rather than Toshiba Corp.'s HD DVD formal. Blu-ray is owned by Sony Corp.
The announcement comes as the Consumer Electronics Show kicks off in Las Vegas this week.
Napster Inc. is expected to jump after the online music service unveiled plans to offer downloads as unprotected MP3 files. Previous, users were not able to play Napster downloads on popular music players like Apple Inc.'s iPod and Microsoft Corp.'s Zune.
CNET Networks Inc. is expected to surge with investors led by Jana Partners planning to remove the technology publisher's directors and seize control of the board, according to a report in The New York Times.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average closed down 1.30 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.34 percent, Germany's DAX index added 0.49 percent, and France's CAC-40 was up 0.45 percent.
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