Indications: U.S. futures down as China ups reserve ratio

By Polya Lesova and Kate Gibson, MarketWatch

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) â€" U.S. stock futures declined Friday, as China raised the reserve requirement ratio for banks, while Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke criticized Beijing’s currency policy.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average /quotes/comstock/21b!f:dj\z10 (DJZ10 11,123, -53.00, -0.47%)  dropped 51 points to 11,125 and S&P 500 index futures /quotes/comstock/21m!f:sp\z10 (SPZ10 1,194, -3.80, -0.32%)  fell 6 points to 1,191.7.

Fed chief comes out swinging

Ben Bernanke breaks his silence Friday to respond to his many critics over the Federal Reserve's monetary-easing program.

Nasdaq 100 futures /quotes/comstock/21m!f:nd\z10 (NDZ10 2,125, -9.75, -0.46%)  declined 9.75 points to 2,124.5.

“As we look at the flow of the week, our two major concerns have been Ireland and China demand story and we were up 1.5% yesterday. So, especially on a day when we have no GM IPO and no economic data, some of the wind will come out of the sails here, at least at the start,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co.

Futures showed little reaction to news that China’s central bank hiked the reserve requirement ratio for banks by 50 basis points.

Earlier, Asian stocks finished mostly higher, with the Shanghai Composite index rising 0.8%.

At a conference organized by the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that China’s decision to undervalue its currency has hurt the global economic recovery. The text of Bernanke’s speech was released late Thursday.

The Dow index /quotes/comstock/10w!i:dji/delayed (DJIA 11,181, +173.35, +1.57%)  rallied 173.35 points, or 1.6%, on Thursday, posting its biggest point and percent gain since Nov. 4.

In premarket trading, shares of Dell Inc. /quotes/comstock/15*!dell/quotes/nls/dell (DELL 13.67, +0.32, +2.36%)  rose 3.9% after the computer maker said late Thursday that its third-quarter profit more than doubled, as revenue surged to $15.4 billion from $12.9 billion.

Shares of clothing retailer Ann Taylor Stores Corp. /quotes/comstock/13*!ann/quotes/nls/ann (ANN 23.75, -0.36, -1.49%)  gained 4.5% in premarket trading after the firm reported a rise in quarterly profit.

In other corporate news, Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. said it’s canceling its initial public offering because of “market conditions.”

In Europe, stock markets traded lower, as investors continued to follow talks in Dublin that may result in a big bailout package for Ireland.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index /quotes/comstock/22c!sxxp (ST:STOXX600 268.62, -2.53, -0.93%)  dropped 1.1% in intraday trading.

The dollar index /quotes/comstock/11j!i:dxy0 (DXY 78.58, -0.04, -0.04%) , which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, dropped to 78.467.

 

Polya Lesova is chief of MarketWatch’s London bureau. Kate Gibson is a reporter for MarketWatch, based in New York.

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