Reply #14: BEFORE THE BELL:US Stock Futures Up; Fed Minutes Fuel Optimism

[ozymandius]

U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher opening on Wall Street Wednesday, as investors continued to draw optimism from the Federal Reserve's more upbeat outlook on the U.S. economy.

S&P 500 futures gained 5.40 points to 1108.50, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 8.75 points to 1795.20. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 42 points to 10447.

U.S. equities finished modestly lower Tuesday, but pared what had been steep declines. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 17 points, or 0.2%, to 10433.
"Today's sentiment will definitely be driven by the FOMC minutes from yesterday, especially by the better-than-expected forecast regarding growth and the fact that interest rates will remain low in 2010," said Christian Tegllund Blaabjerg, chief equity strategist at Saxo Bank.

In the minutes from its latest meeting, the Federal Reserve revised up its growth projections for the U.S. economy for this year and 2010.

Central bankers also expect the unemployment rate, which hit a hit a 26-year high of 10.2% in November, to stay in the range of 9.3% to 9.7% next year. That's a slightly more positive projection that the Fed's June forecast.

Blaabjerg, however, expressed skepticism about the Fed's projections regarding unemployment and growth.

"The Fed must be assuming that the consumer is starting to spend again," he said. "To be quite frank, we are skeptical whether the U.S. consumer will step up as much as the Fed expects. The debt overhang is quite significant."

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20091125-704881.html?mod=rss_Hot_Stocks