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U.S. Stock-Index Futures Advance as Greek Parliament Approves Austerity
2012-02-13 09:44:19

Futures on the S&P 500 expiring in March climbed 0.3 percent to 1,344.7 at 6:31 p.m. New York time. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 37 points, or 0.3 percent, to 12,804. The euro increased 0.3 percent to $1.3237.

Futures increased after 199 members of the Greek chamber voted for the measures and 74 opposed, Parliament Speaker Filippos Petsalnikos said in remarks carried on state-run Vouli TV, as police battled rioters in Athens protesting the plans that include state jobs cuts. The S&P 500 lost 0.7 percent on Feb. 10, wiping out what would have been a sixth straight weekly gain, amid concern Greece was moving further away from securing international aid needed to avoid a default next month.

The S&P 500 ended the week down 0.2 percent at 1,342.64. The index is still up 6.8 percent this year, the best annual start since 1991.

Euro-area finance ministers refused to approve a 130 billion-euro ($173 billion) rescue package until Greece approved the austerity measures. George Karatzaferis, who leads one of Greece’s coalition parties, said on Feb. 10 that he wouldn’t vote for proposed budget cuts, spurring speculation the bailout was in jeopardy. Concern the European debt crisis would trigger a global recession drove the S&P 500 down 19 percent between April and October. It has risen 22 percent since then.

‘100 Percent’

Laurence D. Fink, chief executive of BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest money manager, urged investors earlier last week in Hong Kong to “be 100 percent in equities.” He later said in Beijing his call was aimed at getting cash back into the capital markets.

“It’s important to get cash off the sidelines and back into the markets so people can get the returns they need and we can get our economies moving again,” Fink said in Beijing. His firm manages $3.5 trillion in assets. “Too many people are underweight equities, and one of things I’m trying to do is to get people to think about the opportunities they’re missing, with valuations at these levels.”

The S&P 500 trades for 13.9 times its companies’ reported earnings and has been stuck below its five-decade average valuation of 16.4 since May 2010, the longest stretch since a 13-year span beginning in 1973, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

More than 50 companies in the index are scheduled to report results in the coming week, data compiled by Bloomberg show, including Deere & Co. and Comcast Corp. Per-share profits have topped analyst estimates at 70 percent of the 331 companies that released results since Jan. 9, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Earnings-per-share have increased 3.9 percent for the group on 7 percent sales growth.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael P. Regan in New York at mregan12@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Baker at nbaker7@bloomberg.net





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