* Investors await stress test results
* General Motors posts Q1 loss
* Retailers begin to report monthly sales
* Bank of England leaves interest rates at a record low
* Futures up: S&P 6.60 pts, Dow 57 pts, Nasdaq 0.25 pts
* For up-to-the-minute market news click []
NEW YORK, May 7 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures
pointed to a higher open on Thursday as investors braced for
results of the "stress tests" for banks, while strong earnings
from Cisco <CSCO.O> may help boost the tech sector.
The results of government stress tests on the ability of
the 19 largest banks to weather a deep recession will be
released at 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT) and are expected to show
about half of the banks need more capital. (For details, see
[])
Leaked test results on Wednesday gave investors some
clarity over how well the industry will cope with perhaps the
most severe recession since World War Two, pushing the S&P 500
index to its best close since Jan. 6.
Financial stocks rose in premarket trade ahead of the
stress tests. Bank of America Corp <BAC.N>, upgraded by two
analysts, and Citigroup Inc <C.N> were both up more than 10
percent.
"There is a lot of optimistic expectations suddenly built
in," said Barry Ritholtz, director of equity research at Fusion
IQ in New York.
"There are a lot of expectations on the green shoots, that
the job numbers aren't going to be that bad, the retail numbers
aren't going to be that bad, so you end up with expectations
that things are going to get better."
S&P 500 futures <SPc1> rose 6.60 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> added 57
points, and Nasdaq 100 <NDc1> futures gained 0.25 points.
Tech stocks may get a boost after Cisco Systems Inc
reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results late
Wednesday, and Chief Executive John Chambers said his customers
were seeing more stability, adding to hopes that business
conditions would soon recover. []. Cisco rose 1.7
percent to $19.95 in premarket trade.
General Motors Corp <GM.N> shares rose 5.4 percent to $1.75
in premarket trade after the beleaguered automaker reported
first-quarter results and said it still wants to avoid
bankruptcy. []
On the economic front, investors awaited a report on weekly
jobless numbers, with analysts expecting a slight increase in
initial claims to 635,000.
Retailers will report monthly sales results for April.
Among the first, Costco Wholesale posted flat same-store sales,
although they were down 8 percent including fuel sales.
European shares rose early Thursday, on track for the main
index's first seven-day winning streak since August 2007. The
Bank of England voted to leave interest rates at a record low
of 0.5 percent and said it will increase the size of its
quantitative easing program by 50 billion pounds to 125
billion. []
Asian shares extended their rally on Thursday as
encouraging signs about the health of U.S. banks and the global
economy bolstered riskier assets such as oil and hurt
safe-havens such as the yen. []
Stocks rose Wednesday after a private-sector reading on the
labor market signaled unemployment may be receding and leaked
bank stress test results suggested most institutions are
healthier than thought.
Since hitting a 12-year closing low in March, the S&P has
surged 36 percent, driven by optimism about the financial
systems's condition and hopes the recession may be waning.
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
