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 Late Thursday, Research in Motion surged in after-market trading when it said its fiscal third-quarter profit more than doubled on strong demand for its BlackBerry smart phones. The results gave Wall Street hope that the technology sector has further to climb and that consumers and businesses are still spending.
Then on Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Merrill Lynch & Co., facing hefty writedowns due to losing bets on subprime mortgages, may get a capital infusion of as much as $5 billion from Singapore state-owned investment agency Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd. Temasek is a fund that in late July said it would buy a 1.77 percent stake in Barclays for $2 billion.
Sovereign wealth funds have been providing troubled U.S. and European banks with much-needed cash. In recent weeks, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority bought a Citigroup stake for $7.5 billion; the Government of Singapore Investment Corp. invested $9.75 billion in UBS AG; and China Investment Corp. infused Morgan Stanley with $5 billion.
Dow Jones industrial futures rose 80, or 0.60 percent, to 13,430, while Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 10.50, or 0.71 percent, to 1,485.20. Nasdaq 100 futures rose 18.25, or 0.87 percent, to 2,116.75.
Investors were also awaiting the Commerce Department's report on personal income and spending in November, which will include the Fed's preferred inflation measure: the core personal consumption expenditures deflator. Core PCE is anticipated to show year-over-year growth of 1.9 percent
-- within the Fed's comfort range of 1 percent to 2 percent.
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 In yet another sign of distress in the banking industry, Midwest regional bank KeyCorp said late Thursday it expects to report a fourth quarter loss after setting aside additional reserves for loan losses. It also said it would lay off more than 700 workers.
The dollar fell against other most major currencies Thursday, except the yen. Gold prices rose.
Light, sweet crude rose 31 cents to $91.37 a barrel in premarket trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 1.50 percent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index added 2.26 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 gained 1.47 percent, Germany's DAX index advanced 1.65 percent and France's CAC-40 lifted 1.57 percent.
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On the Net:
New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com/
Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com/
[Associated Press; By MADLEN READ]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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