Wall Street Set To Open Higher On Mixed Economic Reports Ahead Of Bailout Vote

October 3, 2008 8:51 a.m. EST

New York, NY (AHN) - Wall Street shares are likely to trade higher on Friday as companies seek to raise more capital to shore up their balance sheet ahead of scheduled U.S. House's second vote on $700 billion financial-rescue package.

Wachovia Corp. (WB) jumped on reports that it has decided to accept $15 billion takeover offer from Wells Fargo & Co., dumping Citigroup, Inc. (C)'s offer of purchasing Wachovia's banking operations with additional support from FDIC.

The bank had been trying to raise capital to shore up its finances amid its unsuccessful efforts to value the mortgage-related assets and to trade in the market that faces credit slump.

At 8:12 a.m. EDT in New York in pre-market trading, S&P futures were trading higher by 3.20 points or 0.28 percent at 1,127.60 points, NASDAQ futures was moving up by 2.25 points or 0.15 percent at 1,512.75 points.

While Dow was trading lower at 2.00 points or 0.02 percent at 10,559.00 points.

Oil futures retreated as it moved up on Friday's early morning by 58 cents to $94.53 a barrel on weak dollar and on concerns that rising financial crisis may reduce fuel demand.

On Thursday, November crude-oil futures plunged by $4.56 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The prices have plunged almost 13 percent this week, which is the biggest decline registered in a week since December 2004.

In financial sector, Wachovia shares surged by 61 percent in pre-open trade to $6.30. The stock has dropped as much as 90 percent so far this year through yesterday on declining investors' and shareholders' confidence.

Citigroup declined by 6 percent and Wells Fargo gained by more than 2 percent, following its decision to takeover the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender.

In economic reports, the Labor Department will release its monthly figure on the job market in September at 8.30 a.m. EDT.

The Institute for Supply Management is scheduled to release information on the non-manufacturing ISM index for the month of September at 10:00 a.m. ET.

In currency trading, the yen changed hands at 105.15 yen per U.S. dollar in Asia on Friday, after it closed at 105.29 yen late Thursday in New York.