Stock futures were higher this morning, indicating Wall Street's intention to extend Friday's rally following a bailout plan of bond insurer Ambac. On Friday, U.S. stocks ended higher after CNBC reported that several big banks working with New York State Insurance Department will announce a bailout of bond insurer Ambac Financial Group (NYSE: ABK) perhaps as early as Monday or Tuesday. The Dow industrials ended up 96 points, or 0.79%, the S&P 500 rose 10 points, or 0.79%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 3 points, or 0.16%.
Overseas market were positively affected, led by financial stocks. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index rallied 3.1%, and in Europe, London's FTSE 100 index increased by 1.6%, France's CAC 40 gained 1.7% and Frankfurt's DAX rose over 1.1%. Ambac shares surged 34% in Frankfurt trading Monday.
Today at 10:00 a.m. EST, January existing homes sales in the U.S. will be reported. Economists estimate that sales probably fell 1.8% to an annual rate of 4.8 million in January, dropping to the lowest level in at least nine years, according to Bloomberg, and signaling the housing slump is deepening and will weigh on growth in 2008.
Geopolitical tensions following the Turkish incursion into northern Iraq and warnings from Iran, caused oil prices to rise to near $100 a barrel Monday as concerns heightened over potential crude supply disruptions.
Genentech (NYSE: DNA) is also in focus this morning after the Food and Drug Administration approved Avastin for the treatment of breast cancer on Friday. Genentech's stock surged 8% in after-hours trading Friday.
Reporting today, among others, are Lowe's Companies (NYSE: LOW) -- preview -- and Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) -- preview.
Video game publisher Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) said Sunday it had raised its offer for rival Take-Two (NASDAQ: TTWO), making an all-cash bid of $26 per share, or about $2 billion (euro1.35 billion), a 64% premium over Take-Two's closing stock price of $15.83 on Feb. 15. Take-Two, the maker of the "Grand Theft Auto" video game rejected EA's offer, again. TTWO shares rose 49% in premarket trading.
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