re: ** panic friday **no panic u.s.futures gain
U.S. Stock-Index Futures Gain as GE Lifts Forecast, Oil Drops Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures rose as General Electric Co. lifted the lower end of its annual profit forecast and oil prices declined.
``As long as a company like GE is doing well, people will be pretty confident about earnings in the broad market,'' said Gerard Lennon, head of equity trading at Redwood Brokerage LLC in New York. ``I would expect a bit of a reversal today'' from yesterday's losses, he said.
Shares of Merck & Co. jumped after the company said a vaccine was effective in preventing cervical cancer.
Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures expiring in December added 3.10 to 1203.80 as of 8:45 a.m. in New York. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 24 at 10,372. Nasdaq-100 Index futures gained 1.50 to 1584. Yesterday, benchmark indexes tumbled in their broadest decline in more than 15 months.
