Futures Rise Monday Morning As Central Banks Pump Cash Into Banks
(RTTNews) - US stocks were looking to get back on the winning track Monday morning in New York leading central banks across the globe announced additional measures to provide broad access to liquidity and funding to financial institutions.
Coming off the worst week in the history of the markets, stock futures were indicated sharply higher across the board. The S&P Futures were up 43 points, the Nasdaq Futures were up 49 points, and the Dow Futures were up 323 points.
Earlier this morning, central banks around the world announced the latest in a string of coordinated measures designed to tackle the spreading global financial market crisis.
The U. S. Federal Reserve along with the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank promised to inject unlimited amounts of cash to unfreeze credit.
In an effort to stem the financial crisis, the UK government has decided to buy majority stakes in Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc or RBS (RBS) and mortgage lender HBOS plc (HBOS.L), reports said Monday. The government will infuse GBP 20 billion into RBS, Britain’s fourth-biggest bank.
Over the weekend, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson confirmed that the government will move ahead with plans to buy stock in US banks, the first such measure since the 1930s.
Paulson says that the recently passed $700 billion rescue package gives the Treasury Department authority to inject fresh capital in the sytem in order to thaw frozen credit markets.
Meanwhile, Group of Seven finance ministers signed a one-page statement pledging to work together to stabilize markets.
There were no specific proposals included in the statement, but the G7 expressed support for plans to partially nationalize a number of banks in the UK and US.
Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) said Sunday that its takeover of beleaguered bank Wachovia Corp. (WB: News ) and its subsidiary banks has been approved by the Federal Reserve.
The Fed approval, which seemed timed to precede the opening of the wobbly financial markets on Monday, requires Wells Fargo to wait for five days before completing the acquisition. Wells Fargo had topped a competing bid for Wachovia from Citigroup Inc. (C) last week.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that Japan’s largest bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (MTU) was in talks with Morgan Stanley (MS) to renegotiate the terms of its proposed $9 billion capital infusion and strategic alliance.
Mitsubishi is looking for a sweetener to close the deal as Morgan Stanley’s market value took a hit again on Friday on rumors that the capital infusion may not materialize. The general terms of the deal, to be confirmed early Monday, are expected to be intact.
Spain’s biggest bank Banco Santander S.A. (STD) is in advanced negotiations to purchase thrift-bank holding company Sovereign Bancorp Inc. (SOV) for an expected price of $2.53 billion, the Wall Street Journal said Sunday, quoting people familiar with the matter. The two companies expect to complete a deal by Monday, the report noted.
Asian stocks rallied on Monday, with the Hang Seng of Hong Kong adding 1515 points. Tokyo’s Nikkei was closed for public holiday.
European shares moved higher in intraday dealing. The FTSE of the UK rose 183 points, the DAX of Germany was up 232 points, and the CAC of France was up 193 points.
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Posted in Categories: Economy, Eurozone, Japan, Releases, Switzerland, UK, USA.

