big rebound coming up tonight, page-24

bhp/rio merger will have little affect on us market but ford result will
Ford offers Wall Street some relief
Automaker reports better-than-expected quarterly results, helping to offset dim outlook from Cisco, credit jitters.
November 8 2007: 7:39 AM EST


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stock futures gained some ground early Thursday after better-than-expected earnings from Ford Motor helped offset concerns about the credit crunch and economic outlook.

At 7:28 a.m. ET, Nasdaq futures were off their lows while S&P futures turned higher. Earlier, both indicators had suggested a much sharply lower opening for Wall Street.

Helping to boost sentiment were Ford's (Charts, Fortune 500) third-quarter results. The automaker posted a net loss that was narrower than analysts had expected. A much bigger-than-expected loss at rival General Motors (Charts, Fortune 500) helped spark the previous session's stock selloff.

Ford shares rose 5 percent in premarket trading.

The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 361 points and all the major indexes lost nearly 3 percent of their value Wednesday on concerns about the credit market and a record high oil price that came within $1.38 of the $100-a-barrel milestone.