Stock futures point to further gains, buoyed by Fed plan

(Reuters) – Stock index futures climbed on Friday, indicating a further advance in equities which hit multi-year highs Thursday as investors lauded an aggressive plan by the Federal Reserve to stimulate the economy.

The Federal Reserve launched another stimulus program on Thursday, its third quantitative easing measure, saying it would pump $40 billion into the economy each month until the jobs market showed sustained growth.

“QE3 is the obvious market driver of today and probably will continue for the next day or two,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York.

“Nonetheless, we do have some economic numbers we will be looking at today – CPI, University of Michigan, Industrial production, retail sales, all of which should continue to show sluggish economic growth.”

The announcement pushed the Dow and S&P 500 to their highest levels since December 2007 and the Nasdaq to its highest close since November 2000.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/14/us-markets-stocks-idUSBRE8890AY20120914