re: bulls wanting to rally
Wanting to rally Futures point to higher start for U.S. stocks after Asia and Europe jump; oil rises; dollar gains. June 22, 2006: 6:54 AM EDT
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Investors Thursday will try to extend the stock market's recent gains, helped by a big rally in stocks overseas.
Stock futures rose in early trading Thursday, indicating a higher open for stocks. Major U.S. markets jumped Wednesday on strong earnings reports.
Wednesday's gains extended overnight as major markets closed higher Thursday in Asia, with Japan's Nikkei jumping 3.4 percent and crossing the 15,000 mark. It was the biggest percentage gain for Asia's most widely watched stock index in five months.
Major European markets rose in early trading. British Airways (Charts) announced that British and U.S. regulators are investigating alleged price fixing of passenger fares and fuel surcharges by BA and other airlines. Shares of British Airways shares sank about 6 percent in London trading.
Elsewhere, oil prices climbed as well on projections of strong U.S. gasoline demand.
The August light crude futures contract for NYMEX added 55 cents to $70.88 a barrel in electronic trading, while the August contract for Brent crude gained 70 cents to $69.87.
Treasury prices treaded water, leaving the yield on the benchmark 10-year note at the 5.15 percent level reached late Wednesday.
The dollar rose against the yen and the euro.
Two economic reports are due: leading indicators, meant to forecast the economy's direction in coming months, and weekly jobless claims.
Economists surveyed by Briefing.com are looking for the index to fall 0.5 percent after a 0.1 percent decline in April. But the index, based mostly on already released economic readings, rarely moves markets.
New claims are forecast at 305,000, up from 295,000 the previous week.
Remarks by Federal Reserve officials have roiled markets in recent months, and Cleveland Fed President Sandra Pianalto, a voting member of the central bank's rate-setting panel, is due to make opening remarks at a banking conference Thursday. But with the June 28-29 meeting less than a week a day, she is not expected to make any comments that could signal policy on rates.
In corporate news, software provider Oracle (Charts) is due to report results after the market close Thursday. The tech bellwether signaled a week ago it would top forecasts for improved results. Shares have gained 10 percent since the new guidance.
Chrysler Group, a unit of DaimlerChrysler (Charts), will roll out a new program next month similar to last year's popular employee pricing program, according to an industry report. The move is meant to clear a glut of unsold 2006 models and could prompt a new round of incentives from GM and Ford.
Elsewhere, investment firms Blackstone Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts dropped out of the bidding for Univision Communications (Charts), the nation's biggest Spanish-language broadcaster, although other groups are still preparing bids for the company.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Federated Department Stores (Charts) is nearing a deal to sell its Lord & Taylor department-store chain to a private-equity firm and shopping-center developer for about $1.2 billion.
The newspaper also reported that aircraft maker Boeing (Charts) is looking to sell or close its in-flight Internet service Connexion after six years of losses for the offering, which has yet to be sold to any U.S. airline.
Related: More on the markets.
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