U.S. stock futures surged on Monday as news about a strong retail holiday season is coming in and hopes for progress by European leaders in addressing the sovereign debt crisis.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 243 points to 11,430. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures rose 31.80 points to 1,185.20, while Nasdaq 100 futures gained 51.25 points to 2,198.75.
U.S. retailers saw a huge surge in “Black Friday” sales compared to 2010. Chicago-based ShopperTrak said store sales rose 7% as shoppers spent $11.4 billion, a rise of nearly $1 billion from a year ago. This should give market watchers something to be hopeful about.
European debt issues are being tackled by French and German leaders with the proposal of a agreement that would give stability to the financial markets in the region. Reports from Europe all pointed in a more favorable direction over the weekend. European stocks rose more than 2% on Monday, led by shares of financial institutions helped by renewed hopes about of an easing of the debt crisis.
In the currency markets, the dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, dropped 0.9% to 78.868. The euro rallied 0.7% to $1.3377.
Gold futures for December delivery rallied nearly $29 to $1,714.50 an ounce in electronic trading. January oil futures rose $3.20 to $99.97 a barrel.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Friday with a loss of 25.77 points at 11,231.78, lost 3.12 points to end at 1,158.67 for a 4.7% weekly decline, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 18.57 points to 2,441.51 for a 5.1% weekly loss.
Stocks to watch today include Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), Royale Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROYL), General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) and 3M Company (NYSE:MMM).
Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) is up 4.55% in pre-market trading at $5.40. BAC has traded 134 thousand shares in pre-market trading and trades 260.58 million shares a day on average. Over the last 5 trading sessions, BAC has fallen more than $0.50. The company has a market cap of 52.40 billion.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is up $9.68 at $373.25 in pre-market trading, a gain of 2.66%. AAPL has traded 14 thousand shares in pre-market trading so far and trades on average 17.67 million shares a day. AAPL stock has lost more than $10 a share in the past 5 trading sessions. The company has a current market cap of 337.91 billion.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is up 4.61% at $66.80 in pre-market trading. NFLX has traded 5 thousand shares so far in early pre-market trading and trades 8.82 million shares a day on average. The past 5 trading sessions has seen NFLX fall by nearly $15. The company has a current market cap of 3.35 billion.
Royale Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROYL) is up 5.60% in pre-market trading at $4.90. ROYL has 1.2 thousand shares in pre-market trading so far and trades 546 thousand shares on average a day. Over the past 5 trading days, ROYL has jumped from $3 to over $4.50. The company has a current market cap of 49.94 million.
General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) is up 3.06% at $15.15 in pre-market trading. GE has traded 31.4 thousand shares in pre-market trading so far and trades on average 60.32 million shares a day. GE has fallen nearly a buck in the last 5 trading sessions. The company has a current market cap of 155.19 billion.
3M Company (NYSE:MMM) is up 2.57% at $76.13 in pre-market trading. MMM has traded 200 shares in early pre-market trading and trades on average 4.75 million shares a day. MMM has fallen about $4 in the past 5 trading sessions. The company has a current market cap of 53.36 billion.
