U.S. Stock-Index Futures Advance on ECB Stimulus Speculation

By Jonathan Morgan

U.S. stock-index futures rose, indicating equities will climb for a fourth day, as investors await a European Central Bank meeting where President Mario Draghi is expected to introduce quantitative-easing measures.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) expiring in March gained 0.3 percent to 2,032.8 at 7:47 a.m. in New York. The equity gauge added 0.5 percent on Wednesday as energy producers gained with the price of oil, and the ECB was said to propose 50 billion euros ($58 billion) of asset purchases a month through 2016. Dow Jones Industrial Average contracts added 51 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,542.
“For global markets, there is only one game in town,” said Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Plc in London. “The highly anticipated announcement from
the ECB regarding the introduction of QE has lifted risk assets generally. When the announcement is made, investors are likely to focus once more on the pace of the U.S. economic recovery.”
Draghi holds a press conference at 2:30 p.m. in Frankfurt, 45 minutes after the ECB announced it left benchmark interest rates unchanged and said further measures would be detailed later.
Investors will also look to U.S. economic data. Initial jobless claims declined last week, data will show, according to economist predictions.

Corporate Results

Capital One Financial Corp. and Starbucks Corp. are among 16 companies reporting earnings today. Profit at S&P 500 companies climbed 0.8 percent in the last three months of 2014, analysts predict, down from an October estimate of 8.1 percent.
A majority of those surveyed in a Bloomberg poll forecast that the S&P 500 will rise in the next six months, while only a quarter see it declining. The index is trading at 16.8 times the projected earnings of its members, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Valuations reached a five-year high at the end of last year.
Southwest Airlines Co. climbed 1.6 percent before reporting fourth-quarter earnings Thursday.
EBay Inc. (EBAY) advanced 3 percent. The company said it is cutting 2,400 positions, buying back shares and entering into a standstill agreement with activist investor Carl Icahn as it prepares to split its marketplace and payments businesses.
FXCM Inc., the currency brokerage forced to take a bailout from Leucadia National Corp. (LUK) after the surge of the Swiss franc, jumped 11 percent.
American Express Co. dropped 1.6 percent. The biggest U.S. credit-card issuer by purchases will cut more than 4,000 jobs companywide this year as it seeks to curtail expenses.