Futures Slightly Above the Unchanged Mark

albena
30 Nov, -0001
New York City

Stocks are set to climb at the open Friday, as oil prices are near $60 a barrel and investors are expecting economic readings on durable goods and new home sales. Traders will hope to get encouraging news from both key economic reports scheduled on Friday.

The Commerce Department is expected to release the May durable-goods report at 8:30 a.m. Economists forecast a 1.4% rise in new orders for durable goods May after a 1.9% rise April.

The Commerce Department is to release the new home sales report for May at 10 a.m. Economists expect a 0.3% rise to an annual rate of 1,320,000 single-family homes versus 1,316,000 in April.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 1.6%, while The Standard & Poor's 500 index declined nearly 1.1% and the Nasdaq composite also lost 1%.

Oil prices advanced to hover around $60 for a second day on Friday.
Light sweet crude for August delivery traded up 51 cents to $59.92 a barrel, while London Brent crude climbed 44 cents to $58.40 a barrel.
Rapidly increasing consumption in the United States threatens to pressure oil supplies and refining capacity when demand grows this winter.

European shares declined Friday after the Dow industrials slid to a five-week low overnight due to surging oil prices, hitting energy-sensitive airlines and carmakers.

The German DAX 30 index fell 1% to 4,587, the French CAC 40 index slipped 0.9% to 4,203 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index dropped 0.5% to 5,088.

Asian markets finished mostly lower Friday, after U.S. stocks declined sharply overnight as rising crude futures provoked worries about corporate profits and the global demand outlook.

The Nikkei 225 Average shed 39.72 points, or 0.3%, to 11,537.03.
The broader Topix of all Tokyo Stock Exchange first section issues ended down 0.56 point, or 0.1%, at 1173.46.

The dollar traded at 109.20 yen, up from 108.89 yen late Thursday, while the euro advanced versus the greenback to $1.2080 from $1.2042.

The 10-year Treasury note gained 6/32, or $1.875 per $1,000 invested, to yield 3.934%. The 30-year note added 13/32 to yield 4.235%. Yields move inversely to prices.

No major companies are slated to report earnings Friday.

Citigroup ((C)) has agreed to sell substantially all of its asset management business to Legg Mason ((LM)) in a $3.7 billion transaction. The company revealed that in exchange for the business, it will receive Legg Mason's broker-dealer business, about $1.5 billion in common and convertible preferred shares and about $550 million in a 5-year loan facility provided by Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking. Citigroup plans to keep its asset management business in Mexico, its retirement services business in Latin America and its interest in the CitiStreet joint venture.

Alkermes Inc. ((ALKS)) surged over 10% in pre-open trading after agreeing with Cephalon Inc. ((CEPH)) to develop and commercialize Vivitrex in the U.S., an investigational drug in development by Alkermes for the treatment of alcohol dependence.

Xenova ((XNVA)) agreed to be acquired by private equity fund Celtic Pharma for a premium of between 16% and 56%, depending on which offer is chosen by shareholders. Shares climbed 16.1%.

PMC-Sierra ((PMCS)) now projects 2Q revenue at or near the high end of its earlier target range of $70-$72 million. The company has decided to eliminate an additional 63 positions in its recent restructuring, bringing the total number to 89. The company said the total cost for the restructuring will be about $7.4 million, with about $10-$12 million in estimated annual savings expected to result.