2:59 AM
Stock index futures signal higher opening
Addison Ray
NEW YORK | Mon Oct 11, 2010 4:59am EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher opening on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.28 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.19 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.1 percent at 4:47 a.m. ET, helped by mounting expectations of further action from the Federal Reserve to support the economy.
* But there were worries of a monetary tightening in China. The country has raised reserve requirements for six large commercial banks on a temporary basis, a move to drain cash from the economy but avoid over-tightening, four sources told Reuters on Monday.
* China's top offshore oil producer CNOOC Ltd (0883.HK) has agreed to pay $1.1 billion for a stake in a U.S. shale oil and gas field, testing the market for the first time since its 2005 failed bid for Unocal.
* Rival bidders may be looking to derail BHP Billiton's (BHP.AX) $39 billion bid for Canada's Potash Corp (POT.TO), with China's Sinochem and a Canadian pension fund among those working on plans, according to newspaper reports.
* Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) is set to unveil a new line of phones running its Windows software on Monday, as it attempts to pull back market share from Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iPhone and Google Inc's (GOOG.O) Android system in the fast-growing market for multi-featured 'smartphones'.
* The dollar fell to a 15-year low of 81.40 yen on Monday but later clawed higher and stabilized, with the chances of a short-term bounce growing, despite expectations the Federal Reserve will have to print money to support the economy.
* The dollar was affected by discord in international currency policies after the IMF's member countries failed to agree on a concrete plan to tackle global imbalances at multilateral meetings over the weekend. ID:ID:nN10287368
* Oil rose for a second straight session on Monday to top $83, lifted by the dollar's slide that bolstered the appeal of commodities as an alternative investment.
* European stocks inched higher, led by tech shares such as Nokia (NOK1V.HE), helped by a share price target upgrade from Goldman Sachs. Japanese markets were closed for a national holiday.
* U.S. stocks rallied on Friday, with the Dow closing above the 11,000 mark for the first time in five months as a surprisingly weak jobs report strengthened the case for a further monetary injection by the Federal Reserve.
* The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI gained 57.90 points, or 0.53 percent, to close at 11,006.48. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX rose 7.09 points, or 0.61 percent, to 1,165.15. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC climbed 18.24 points, or 0.77 percent, to 2,401.91.
(Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
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