U.S. Futures Gain With Metals as European Leaders Reach Greek Bailout Deal

By Lynn Thomasson and John Dawson - Feb 21, 2012 3:17 PM GMT+0700

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Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Euro-area finance ministers reached agreement on a second bailout package for Greece that is vital to staving off a default next month, a European Union official said. David Tweed reports on Bloomberg Television "Asia Edge" with John Dawson. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank President Mario Draghi talks with reporters in Brussels about the agreement reached on a second bailout for Greece. (Source: Bloomberg)

U.S. equity futures and metals rose, while Treasuries declined after Greece won a second rescue package. European stocks retreated, led by energy producers.

Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) futures added 0.3 percent as of 8:07 a.m. in London. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 0.3 percent. Ten-year Treasury yields climbed three basis points to 2.03 percent. The euro was little changed at $1.3241, after strengthening as much 0.4 percent. Copper gained 1 percent and oil traded near a nine-month high.

European finance ministers awarded Greece 130 billion euros ($173 billion) in aid by tapping into European Central Bank profits and coaxing investors into providing more debt relief to shield the region from a default. The global economy faces an “uphill struggle” as it seeks to recover from a financial crisis, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping said yesterday.

“You can’t really go out and say that we’ve solved the whole euro-zone debt crisis and this won’t come back to bother us again,” Manpreet Gill, a senior investment strategist at Standard Chartered Plc, said in a Bloomberg Television interview from Singapore. “These issues will still simmer over time.”

S&P 500 futures expiring in March climbed to 1,364. U.S. markets will reopen today after a public holiday yesterday. The U.S. government is set to sell debt totaling $99 billion this week, starting with a $35 billion auction of two-year securities today.

Consumer Confidence

Data later today may show a measure of euro-area consumer confidence improved to minus 20.1 this month from minus 20.7 in January, according to the median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg survey.

Asian stocks have climbed for the past nine weeks, pushing the MSCI Asia-Pacific gauge to a 12 percent rally this year. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.8 percent today and the Shanghai Composite Index advanced 0.8 percent.

Mazda Motor Corp. (7261), the most unprofitable among Japan’s eight biggest carmakers, slumped 9.9 percent. The company is preparing a share sale to raise capital by as much 100 billion yen ($1.25 billion), NHK Television reported, without citing anyone. Mazda said in a filing that no decision has been made.

Korean Air Lines Co. (003490), the nation’s biggest carrier, tumbled 6.4 percent after Deutsche Bank AG told clients to sell the shares, citing a weak cargo market and high fuel prices. Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. lost 1.9 percent in Hong Kong.

Oil futures for March delivery, which expire today, advanced as much as $2.20 to $105.44 in intra-day trading, the highest since May 5.

Iran’s decision to halt sales of crude oil to French and British buyers to preempt a European Union ban on imports will have “no impact on Britain’s energy security or supplies,” said U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague. The EU has agreed to stop purchases of Iranian crude from July 1 in an attempt to curb the Persian Gulf country’s nuclear program.

The Australian dollar fell against all 16 major counterparts, losing 0.5 percent to $1.0705. Minutes of the central bank’s Feb. 7 meeting suggested board members are prepared to ease policy if demand were to “weaken materially.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Lynn Thomasson in Hong Kong at lthomasson@bloomberg.net; John Dawson in Hong Kong at jrdawson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Regan in Hong Kong at jregan19@bloomberg.net.