US stock futures edge up before manufacturing data

[May 01, 2009]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks are set to begin May with a modest gain ahead of a key reading on U.S. manufacturing.

Wall Street, coming off its best month in nine years, has been growing more optimistic the economy is near a turnaround. Investors expect the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index will support that belief -- economists predict the April index will show a contraction, but the smallest one since last October.

Before the market's opening, Dow Jones industrial average futures are up 28, or 0.3 percent, at 8,154. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures are up 2.90, or 0.3 percent, at 872.90. Nasdaq 100 index futures are up 5.50, or 0.4 percent, at 1,399.00.

The S&P 500 index, a broad measure of the market, rose 9.4 percent in April. That was its biggest monthly increase since March 2000.

News on Thursday that Chrysler will be going through bankruptcy reorganization put just a small dent in Wall Street's rally, which began in early March. The Dow, still up 24.8 percent from its 12-year low on March 9, dipped 0.2 percent on the last day of the month.

The first day of May will bring not only the ISM's manufacturing index, but also data on factory orders, consumer sentiment and vehicle sales figures.

Investors will be focusing on earnings reports as well. Late Thursday, two insurers -- The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. and MetLife Inc. -- posted losses for the first quarter. But computer security software maker McAfee Inc. said its first-quarter profit jumped 77 percent.

U.S. government bond prices slipped. The dollar was mostly lower against other major currencies. Gold prices also declined.

Light, sweet crude fell 26 cents to $50.86 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In overseas trading, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 1.7 percent. By midday in Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.1 percent. Germany's DAX and France's CAC-40 were closed for a holiday.

[Associated Press; By MADLEN READ]

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