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US STOCKS-European concerns set to pressure Wall St

Published 12/06/2010, 08:57 AM
Updated 12/06/2010, 09:00 AM

* Euro zone finance ministers set to meet, euro falls

* Bernanke says Fed could buy more bonds

* Futures off: S&P 3.4 pts, Dow 11 pts, Nasdaq 1.25 pts (Recasts, adds details, quote)

By Leah Schnurr

NEW YORK, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Wall Street was set for a weak open on Monday with investors poised to lock in profits and looking for further action from European officials to prevent the debt crisis from spreading.

Euro zone finance ministers were set to meet amid pressure to increase the size of a 750 billion euro ($1,006 billion) safety net for debt-stricken members.

Germany rejected any such move and dismissed a call by two veteran finance ministers for joint euro bonds guaranteed by the whole euro zone.

The euro fell to session lows, pressuring equities. Stocks and the euro have moved in tandem of late with the euro looked at as a proxy for debt concerns.

"(Investors) are expecting more aggressive action from the European bank," said Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois. "It's very important from a perception standpoint."

Investors also took in weekend comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. He told the CBS television program "60 Minutes" the Fed could end up increasing its commitment to buy $600 billion in U.S. government bonds if the economy fails to respond or unemployment stays too high.

Bernanke also said it would take four to five years for the country's unemployment rate to come down to what he called more "normal" levels of about 5 percent to 6 percent.

"Listening to Bernanke, it was clear we're in no way out of the woods," said Rick Meckler, president of investment firm LibertyView Capital Management in New York..

Quantitative easing has been a double-edged sword for equities as it has helped inflate asset prices but also signaled the recovery is still fragile.

"A lot of the recent optimism was really too high and in part brought about by the recovery in stocks. Investors have to separate corporate profits, which drive stock prices, from the general economic scene," said Meckler.

S&P 500 futures dipped 3.4 points and were below 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 lost 11 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 1.25 points.

Stocks closed their best week in a month on Friday, despite data showing tepid jobs growth. The S&P 500 rose 3 percent last week.

The S&P 500 faces strong technical resistance at about 1,228, near a recent high of more than two years and also the 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement of the index's slide from October 2007 to March 2009, a key technical indicator.

Support for the benchmark kicks in at 1,200, which was recently a stubborn resistance point, and the top end of its recent trading range. The S&P closed at 1,224.71 on Friday.

In equities news, hedge fund manager William Ackman is ready to finance an offer by Borders Group Inc for rival Barnes & Noble Inc, according to a regulatory filing. Barnes & Noble jumped 17.5 percent to $15.60, while Borders shot up 15.7 percent at $1.25.

Pfizer Inc's chief executive stepped down unexpected, acknowledging the personal toll involved in steering the world's largest drugmaker through a multibillion dollar merger, the company said late Sunday. Shares were off 0.4 percent to $16.65.

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