S&P 500 Futures Rise After Jobs Data as Europe Bonds Gain

New York (June 6)  Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures signaled the gauge will extend a record after payrolls data. European stocks and bonds gained while junk-rated corporate credit risk fell to the lowest level since 2007 after the European Central Bank added stimulus measures.

S&P 500 futures added 0.2 percent at 8:35 a.m. in New York. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 0.4 percent. The 10-year Italian bond yield slid 17 basis points to 2.76 percent. European high-yield bond risk fell for a fourth day. Copper slid 1.8 percent. The U.S. 10-year yield fell two basis points to 2.56 percent, having climbed from 2.48 percent at the end of last week.

U.S. employers added 217,000 workers in May, sending payrolls past the pre-recession peak for the first time. Yields on Spanish, Belgian and Irish 10-year securities also fell to all-time lows a day after the ECB took deposit rates negative, the first major central bank to do so, and offered liquidity to lenders to encourage credit growth. Data today showed German industrial production rose less than estimated.

The S&P 500 has climbed 0.9 percent this week. gained traction. The 217,000 advance was broad-based and followed a 282,000 gain in April, Labor Department figures showed today. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 215,000 increase. Unemployment in May was unchanged at 6.3 percent.

Bonds Climb

Spain’s 10-year yields fell 17 basis points, or 0.17 percentage point, to 2.66 percent, the least since Bloomberg began compiling the data in 1993.

French five-year yields dropped to a record 0.53 percent, while Irish 10-year rates dropped to as low as 2.46 percent and the yield on similar-maturity Belgian bonds touched 1.80 percent.

The cost of insuring against losses on high-yield company debt fell in Europe, with the Markit iTraxx Crossover index of 60 mostly junk-rated borrowers dropping eight basis points to 229 basis points, the lowest since June 2007.

Three shares advanced for every one that declined on the Stoxx 600, with trading volumes 29 percent higher than the 30-day average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Centrica Plc gained 1.2 percent after the Times reported speculation that the owner of British Gas may attract a takeover bid from Qatar, Electricite de France SA or a private-equity group. The newspaper did not say where it got the information.

Commerzbank AG climbed 2.5 percent after the lender’s chief executive officer told Neue Zuercher Zeitung that he predicts the ECB will find no problems during its audit.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA dropped 2.6 percent after announcing that it will offer new shares to investors at a 35.5 percent discount in a rights offer.

Source: Bloomberg