• Home
• /
• Business

Index futures higher after auto bailout expanded

Investors were also awaiting economic data later in the day, including consumer confidence, a reading on business activity in the U.S. Midwest, and data on home prices.

Late on Monday, the Bush administration said it was increasing a loan to General Motors by $1 billion and buying $5 billion in equity in GMAC, GM's finance arm.

It was the latest in a string of government moves in an effort to ease tight credit markets and cushion the impact of the year-long recession.

GM's shares were up 11.1 percent at $4.00 in premarket trading, while rival Ford rose 7.2 percent to $2.38.

Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners in New York, said that while there could be negative consequences of the series of bailouts in the long term, it limited the fallout in the near term.

"The alternative obviously could be worse, so I think that maybe the market has finally got it -- we have a short-term fix and a long-term problem that we can deal with later," said Cardillo.

S&P 500 futures rose 3.40 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures climbed 27 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 8.25 points.

Dow Chemical could tap a $13 billion bridge loan to or renegotiate the price to salvage its $15 billion takeover of Rohm & Haas, the Financial Times reported.

Kuwait decided to scrap a joint venture with Dow Chemical over the weekend, depriving the company of financing it planned to use for the acquisition.

Dow was up 3.3 percent at $15.83 before the opening bell after falling steeply in Monday's session.

Earlier in the month, the U.S. government agreed to throw a lifeline to GM and Chrysler LLC with up to $17.4 billion in emergency loans to head off a potential collapse that would have cost hundreds of thousands of jobs and further hit the already beleaguered economy.

Also in the auto sector, billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian sold all of his remaining shares of Ford, ending his high profile investment in the automaker.

Oil prices fell below $40 a barrel as concerns over the outlook for global growth overshadowed tensions in the Middle East.

Israel continued its air strikes on the Gaza Strip and warned its military action could last weeks, while Hamas pledged to keep up rocket attacks on Israeli cities.

A jump in oil prices on Monday had boosted energy shares, limiting declines in U.S. markets, but higher oil also raised worries of more pressure on already cash-strapped consumers.

On Monday, Wall Street ended lower on concerns about Dow Chemical's planned takeover of Rohm & Haas.

Volume was expected to be light throughout the week shortened by the New Year's holiday. The broad S&P 500 is down about 40 percent for the year, making it one of the worst ever.