Wall Street points to a higher opening

By Patrick Rizzo

A day after Wall Street broke a three-day winning streak, stocks look set to rise Thursday after Germany's parliament?became the latest to approve an expansion of the?euro zone crisis fund.

So far, 16 other?countries in the euro zone have approved new powers for the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF),?including France, Italy, Ireland and Spain.

Stocks have been whipsawed lately?according to the whims of investors who day-by-day, based on the news out of Europe,?are either optimistic or pessimistic about Europe's ability to?control a growing debt crisis that threatens to engulf Greece, Italy and other euro zone members.?Failure to stave off the crisis could lead to a global economic slump, experts have said.

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell?179 points, or?1.61 percent, to 11,010.90. The broader S&P 500 sunk 24.30 points, or?2.07 percent, to 1,151.08. The Nasdaq dipped?55.25 points, or?2.17 percent, to 2,491.58.

Europe won't be the only thing on investors' minds Thursday.

• The third?(and final) estimate of U.S. Gross Domestic Product will be released?by the Commerce Department at?8:30 a.m. EDT.?A consensus of?economists polled?for The Associated Press by Fact Set?predicts the economy expanded at a 1.2 percent pace?from April to June, slightly higher than the previous 1.0 percent estimate. The third quarter looks only slightly better, with economists seeing a growth rate in the range of 2.1 percent to 2.3 percent. That's not nearly enough to put a dent in the 9.1 percent unemployment rate.
• Speaking of jobs, the Labor Department will release its weekly data for new unemployment benefit claims, also at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Economists predict that slightly fewer people applied for jobless benefits, but they see the data still stuck in?a range above 400,000. Claims would need to go below that for an extended period to?have any meaningful effect on unemployment.??
• The National Association of Realtors releases pending-home sales at 10:00 a.m. EDT.

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/29/8032472-wall-street-looks-headed-for-a-higher-open

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