stock futures are looking up

AP
Stock Futures Are Looking Up
Monday June 19, 7:17 am ET
Stock Futures Are Looking Up on Rising Dollar, Nokia-Siemens Deal


LONDON (AP) -- U.S. stock futures were pointing to a bright start to the week, with the dollar on the rise and the telecommunications industry back in the spotlight after Nokia and Siemens agreed to merge their equipment arms.



Dow Jones futures were recently up 37 points, S&P 500 futures rose 4.2 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures improved 6 points.

Last week, the Dow industrials rose 1.1 percent while the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 slipped. Friday's trading session ended with modest losses for the benchmark indexes, with volume heavy because of quadruple witching, or the simultaneous expiration of options, index options, futures contracts and single-stock futures.

Overseas markets were split Monday, with Tokyo's Nikkei 225, the Hong Kong's Hang Seng and the Seoul Kospi down on a combination of China tightening lending requirements and a North Korean missile test.

But European markets were mostly higher after the Nokia-Siemens deal, with Siemens rallying 8 percent and Nokia, the world's leading mobile phone maker, rising over 4 percent.

The companies said the deal was done to compete against the merged Alcatel-Lucent Technologies and Ericsson in supplying telecom equipment to phone companies such as AT&T and Vodafone Group. The deal also is expected to rekindle takeover speculation throughout the industry, with Nortel Networks and Juniper Networks considered possible targets.

Also in the telecoms field, AT&T in July will launch a service combining EchoStar Communications satellite television with video and movies from the Internet, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

The dollar also was ascendant, with the greenback reaching the best level against the euro since late April.

It's a fairly light calendar for economic data, and even evidence of further weakening in housing and a drop in durable-goods orders probably wouldn't force Fed officials to conclude that the economy is getting too weak to handle a little insurance tightening.

Crude-oil futures weakened 56 cents at $69.34 a barrel and August gold futures dropped more than $10 an ounce.

Elsewhere, Goldman Sachs last night promoted Gary Cohn and Jon Winkelried to the co-chief operating officer position, with John Weinberg to become vice chairman.

Intel Corp., the world's largest chipmaker, was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS, with the broker also lifting its price target to $23 from $21. Lower operational spending and increased competitiveness drove the ratings change, UBS said.

Capital One could be in focus after Barron's magazine said investors aren't giving enough credit to the firm, saying it now has a platform to cross-sell credit cards, auto loans and mortgages to bank customers with its acquisition of North Fork.

Circuit City Stores and CarMax are among the firms expected to unveil quarterly results Monday.