U.S. stock market futures soared Monday morning, indicating Wall Street might rally today, or at least at the open, as the stage is set for General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) to declare the long awaited bankruptcy shortly. With some relief as the bankruptcy is not expected to carry any surprises, and as hopes mount the worst of the financial crisis and recession is over U.S. stocks were poised to soar at the start of trading Monday.The main story today is of course the auto sector, namely GM. The century-old automaker is expected to file and declare bankruptcy at 8:00 a.m. this morning after mounting $889 billion in losses. The government will likely end up with at least a 60% stake and an unprecedented role in reshaping the auto industry. It will be the largest industrial bankruptcy in U.S. history and the fourth-largest overall. Meanwhile, a federal bankruptcy judge has approved the sale of most of Chrysler's assets to Fiat, clearing the way for it to exit court protection shortly.
Overseas, world stock markets rose strongly Monday after closely-watched manufacturing surveys in Europe and Asia (and the upcoming U.S. one) showed manufacturing was on the mend, reinforcing hopes that the global economy may start to recover by the second half of the year. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average closed up 1.6 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shot up 4 percent. In Europe, London's FTSE 100 index was up 1.7 percent, France's CAC-40 was up 2.5 percent, and Germany's DAX surged 3.3 percent.
Meanwhile, oil continued its climb up, with oil prices nearing $68 a barrel Monday, hitting a new high for the year on hopes that the global recession is easing.
Some economic data in focus today:
- At 8:30 AM, April Personal Income and Spending is due out.
- At 10:00 AM, April Construction Spending will be released
- At the same time, the ISM Index will be reported.
Senator Sanders proposes legislation to break up large banks
Closing Bell: Unemployment must not be relevant (GE, ACOM, FNM, ZIOP, MOT, NVDA)
Employee productivity up close to 10%
