LDN - Business

Stock futures steady after selloff due to Italy crisis

[May 30, 2018] By Medha Singh

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Wednesday, suggesting a respite from a steep selloff that had pushed the S&P and the Dow Jones Industrial Average to their worst day in a month due to a political crisis in Italy.

Report of a renewed attempt to form a coalition government in Rome by the two anti-establishment parties, the 5-Star Movement and League, provided some comfort on hopes that the country could avoid a new election.

A surprise breakthrough would ease uncertainty but still usher in a coalition planning to ramp up spending in the heavily indebted nation and push for changes to European Union and euro-zone fiscal rules.

At 7:30 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis <1YMc1> were up 159 points, or 0.65 percent. S&P 500 e-minis <ESc1> were up 14.75 points, or 0.55 percent and Nasdaq 100 e-minis <NQc1> were up 28.25 points, or 0.41 percent.

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 <.SPX> and the Dow <.DJI> posted their first 1 percent drop in May as investors scurried for safety assets such as U.S. bonds on fears of political instability in eurozone.

Despite the losses, the indexes are on track for their biggest monthly gains since January.

Investors kept a wary eye on the developments around tariffs and trade. In an unexpected change in tone, the United States said late on Tuesday it could still impose tariffs on $50 billion of imports from China unless it addressed the issue of theft of American intellectual property.

China said on Wednesday it was ready to fight back if Washington was looking for a trade war, days ahead of a planned visit by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

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Traders work at the Citadel Securities post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., July 18, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

At 8:15 a.m. ET, the ADP National Employment report is expected to show that U.S. private employers added 190,000 jobs in May versus 204,000 jobs in the previous month.

The second estimate of first-quarter GDP is expected to have remained at 2.3 percent, while core personal consumption expenditures price index - the Federal Reserve's favored inflation measure - is expected to increase at a 2.5 percent rate in the same period. The Commerce Department will release both data at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Bank stocks will be closely watched as the Federal Reserve is set to consider a proposal to modify the "Volcker Rule" at 3:00 p.m. ET.

The long anticipated proposal to rewrite the Volcker Rule, which marks another step by Trump administration regulators to ease banking rules, is aimed at preventing lenders from making market bets while accepting taxpayer-insured deposits.

Among stocks, Salesforce.com Inc <CRM.N> rose 4.4 percent after the company raised its full-year forecast, helped by strong demand in its cloud-based sales and marketing software.

(Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

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