Reply #18: Wall St futures tick up; eyes on banks, payrolls

[Ghost Dog]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071102/bs_nm/markets_stocks_dc

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to Wall Street opening a touch higher on Friday after the previous session's steep falls, with eyes on any news from the financial sector industry and on October jobs data.

"I think the market will be really nervous," said Heinz-Gerd Sonnenschein, equity strategist at Postbank in Germany.

U.S. stocks could move either way, depending on the non-farm payrolls report at 1230 GMT and what, if any, news there will be about financial companies' exposure to risky credit instruments.

"It's like the snake and the mouse; who will move first?" Sonnenschein said.

At 6 a.m. EDT, the Dow Jones future was up 0.1 percent, the S&P 500 future was 0.03 percent higher and the Nasdaq future rose 0.1 percent

The indicative Dow Jones index (.DJII), which tracks how the Dow stocks are traded in Frankfurt, was 0.3 percent higher.

...

FINANCIAL TRIGGER

"The trigger will be the financials again ... what will come from the financial side," he said.

Commerzbank agreed, saying in a note: "At the heart of the concern are ongoing fears over the health of the financial sector amid a succession of write-downs."

On Thursday, financial stocks dragged Wall Street sharply lower after brokerages downgraded Citigroup (C.N) and Bank of America (BAC.N), sparking fears of more fallout from the credit crisis.



/... :shrug: