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Empresas y finanzas

Stocks set to rise; GDP figures eyed


    (Reuters) - Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were up between 0.3 percent and 0.5 percent, pointing to a positive start on Wall Street.

    At 1330 GMT, the first snapshot of the U.S. economy in the fourth quarter is expected to show it at its weakest in 26 years. Economists polled by Reuters offered a median estimate of a 5.4 percent decline in U.S. gross domestic product on an annualized basis.

    The University of Michigan indexes and Chicago PMI data for January are also due.

    The Obama administration aims to roll out a menu of options next week to help stabilize the U.S. banking industry, with government aid tailored to individual banks' needs, a source familiar with the administration's thinking told Reuters on Thursday.

    Roche has cut the price of its bid for outstanding shares in Genentech , going hostile and dashing investor hopes of a sweetened offer for the 44 percent of the U.S. biotech group its does not already own. The deal would now be worth $42 billion, down from $44 billion. Genentech shares were up 2.3 percent in Frankfurt

    Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble and integrated oil companies ExxonMobil and Chevron are among companies reporting results.

    Shares of Amazon.com rose 13 percent to $56.50 to extend a rally in electronic trade on Thursday after the online retailer posted results that beat analysts' estimates. The Frankfurt shares were up 10.6 percent.

    Shares of Broadcom Corp fell in extended trade on Thursday after the semiconductor company posted its fourth-quarter and 2008 results. The shares were down 5.4 percent in Frankfurt .

    Juniper Networks shares added to losses in extended trading on Thursday after the network equipment provider reported quarterly revenue that missed expectations. The shares were down 13.4 percent in Frankfurt .

    U.S. stocks tumbled on Thursday, derailing a four-day surge in the S&P and Nasdaq as poor earnings, coupled with a fresh wave of bleak labor market and housing data, heightened fears of a deep recession. The Dow Jones industrial average slid 2.7 percent; the Standard & Poor's 500 Index tumbled 3.3 percent; the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 3.2 percent.

    (Reporting by Brian Gorman; Editing by Hans Peters)