Dollar climbs vs. the euro
By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures edged lower Tuesday as the Federal Reserve was due to begin deliberations on interest rate policy, with Wells Fargo in the spotlight after becoming the last of the big banks to strike a deal to repay U.S. government assistance.
S&P 500 futures fell 2.4 points to 1,106.20 and Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 3.25 points to 1,804.50. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 19 points.
U.S. stocks rose on Monday assisted by Abu Dhabi's $10 billion loan to Dubai and Exxon Mobil's $31 billion acquisition of XTO Energy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 29 points, the S&P 500 rose 7 points and the Nasdaq Composite added 21 points.
Citigroup was one of the rare losers after setting out terms to repay the government's $20 billion stake. And late Monday, Wells Fargo (WFC 25.49, +0.08, +0.31%) won approval to repay the $25 billion government stake.
Deutsche Bank upped Wells Fargo to buy from hold on the move as well as expectations for a strong fourth quarter.
The dollar was stronger against the euro, as U.S. bank health appeared to be mend while Europe's founders. Further worries about Austrian institutions as well as Greek banks contributed to the bearish tone for the shared currency.
As the Federal Open Market Committee starts the first day of a two-day meeting on interest rates -- no comment from the central bank is expected today -- traders also were reluctant to bet against the greenback.
The dollar index rose 0.7% to 77.25. Oil futures showed little movement, while gold futures dropped $8 an ounce.
Tuesday's docket also includes data on the December Empire State manufacturing and the NAHB housing market indices, November producer prices and industrial production, and Treasury inflow data from October.
Best Buy (BBY 45.37, +1.03, +2.32%) , the electronics retailer, is the key earnings report, with Adobe Systems (ADBE 35.78, +0.40, +1.13%) reporting after the close of trade.
Kraft Foods (KFT 26.97, +0.18, +0.67%) pressed ahead with its hostile takeover bid for U.K. chocolate producer Cadbury (CBY 51.75, +0.30, +0.58%) , questioning its target's new long-term sales and margin forecasts.
Asian and European benchmarks showed little movement, with the Nikkei 225 ended 0.2% lower and the FTSE 100 weakening 0.5% in London.
