* China denies report on euro-zone holdings
* Spain moves to cut budget deficit
* GDP, jobless claims on tap
* Futures up: Dow 185 pts, S&P 24.1 pts, Nasdaq 41.75 pts
* For up-to-the-minute market news see []
By Edward Krudy
NEW YORK, May 27 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures
pointed to a rise of about 2 percent at the open on Thursday
after China denied a report it was reviewing its holdings in
euro-zone sovereign bonds due to the region's debt crisis.
The People's Bank of China said a Financial Times report
that Beijing was concerned about its euro-zone exposure was
groundless. The FT report cut short a rally in the last session
and pushed indexes into the red in a sign investors remained
nervous after recent heavy losses.
In a familiar pattern seen in recent rebounds, financial
and natural resource shares, among the worst hit during the
selling, gained in premarket trade. Citigroup Inc <C.N> rose
3.9 percent to $4.01, while United States Steel Corp <X.N>
added 3.6 percent to $46.73.
"We have gone through a period of a very, very hard
sell-off, and I think traders are looking for some evidence of
a stopping point for those sales. This morning seems to be at
least the first effort at a significant comeback," said Rick
Meckler, president of investment firm LibertyView Capital
Management in New York.
Also helping to sooth markets, Portugal said it was fully
engaged in fiscal consolidation, while Spain's parliament
passed a 15 billion euro ($18.4 billion) austerity package to
cut its budget deficit. For details, see []
St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said he
did not expect contagion from Europe's fiscal problems to reach
the United States, adding that the world's biggest economy may
actually benefit from a "flight to safety." []
But LibertyView's Meckler said volatility would likely
persist while Europe's problems remained unsolved. "There's
going to be a lot of emotional back-and-forth on the part of
investors," he said. "I would expect there will be days like
this, and days with the same type of movement the other way."
S&P 500 futures <SPc1> jumped 24.1 points and were above
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 <DJc1> soared
185 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures <NDc1> put on 41.75 points.
On the economic side, the second reading of first-quarter
U.S. gross domestic product growth and weekly jobless claims
will both be released at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT)
Economists forecast a 3.4 percent annualized rate of
growth, and looked for new jobless claims to have fallen to
455,000 last week from 471,000 the week before.
In earnings news, H.J. Heinz Co <HNZ.N> posted higher
quarterly profit, but also said annual earnings would be hit by
currency fluctuations. []
Warehouse club operator Costco Wholesale Corp <COST.O> and
close-out retailer Big Lots Inc <BIG.N> both recorded higher
quarterly profit. [] and []
(Reporting by Edward Krudy; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
