Stock futures lower as bank bailout repayment awaited

June 8, 2009 | By admin |

38 mins ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stock index futures pointed down about 1 percent on Monday after three weeks of gains, and markets awaited government word about the repayment of bank bailout money this week.

* The Obama administration is expected to announce a higher-than-expected number of big banks will be allowed to repay their government bailout funds, the Washington Post reported. The newspaper said the size of the repayments may be twice the initial estimate of $25 billion.

* Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) fell 2.3 percent to $11.58 in premarket trade, while JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) dropped 1.6 percent to $34.

* The price of oil and U.S. Treasury bond yields are likely to remain in focus, with the 10-year note’s yield near 4 percent and oil approaching $70 per barrel, although June oil futures were off 1 percent. Investors are concerned that increased costs of borrowing and of fuel could hit consumers and businesses, slowing an economic recovery.

* The U.S. dollar rose against a basket of currencies on Monday, following recent weakness that has helped natural resource companies and multinationals.

* “Considering we have had a healthy, positive outlook to the market, it appears that this morning we are facing a bout of profit-taking as we await further evidence of economic progress,” said Andre Bakhos, president of Princeton Financial Group in Princeton, New Jersey.

* S&P 500 futures fell 8 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slid 80 points, while Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 14.75 points.

* BlackRock Inc (BLK.N) and Bank of New York Mellon Corp (BK.N) are both in talks to buy Barclays Global Investors (BGI), a unit of Barclays Plc (BARC.L), according to sources who asked not to be named since the talks are confidential. The deal could be worth about $12 billion and might come early this week, the sources said.

* Boston mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments and New York private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co have reached a deal to sell shares of KKR in initial public offerings to retail customers, hoping for a comeback in the frozen market. KKR hasn’t had an IPO since it took Sealy Mattress Co (ZZMTR.UL) public in 2006.

* Indiana pension funds and consumer groups asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Sunday to stop the sale of bankrupt automaker Chrysler LLC to a group led by Italian carmaker Fiat SpA (FIA.MI).

* U.S. stocks ended mixed on Friday, with the major indexes split as investors considered conflicting signals in monthly U.S. jobs data. Investors sold recent winners to book gains from the spring rally, which has lifted the S&P 500 by almost 40 percent from its 12-year closing low on March 9.
source : http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090608/bs_nm/us_markets_stocks