Wall Street heads for higher open

[February 11, 2009]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Stock futures pointed to a modestly higher open Wednesday as Wall Street appeared ready to recover some of its huge losses from the previous session.

Some bounce back was to be expected after the major stock indexes fell more than 4 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which tumbled 382 points.

Tuesday's sharp drop was triggered by disappointment in the government's plans to overhaul the $700 billion financial rescue package passed by Congress last fall.

Investors were discouraged by a lack of details from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on how the government plans to direct more than $1 trillion in public and private aid to support the ailing financial system.

The plan is meant to expand the government's efforts to unfreeze the credit markets and encourage more normal lending by banks to consumers and businesses. The latest version also calls for a government-private sector partnership to help remove banks' bad assets from their balance sheets.

Investors are also awaiting a resolution on a more than $800 billion economic stimulus package that passed in the Senate on Tuesday. Rupublican and Democratic leaders are still at odds over how much money should be directed to certain programs. The final version of the bill is expected to reach President Barack Obama's desk within days.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department will release international trade data for December at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.

Ahead of the market's open, Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 32, or 0.41 percent, to 7,910. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures added 4, or 0.48 percent, to 830.90, while Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 4, or 0.32 percent, to 1,236.50.

Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 2.79 percent from 2.82 percent late Tuesday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, was unchanged from late Tuesday at 0.30 percent.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

Light, sweet crude rose 25 cents to $37.80 in electronic premarket trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.29 percent. In late morning trading, Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.01 percent, Germany's DAX index was up 0.14 percent, and France's CAC-40 was down 0.31 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 SARA LEPRO]

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