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U.S. Stocks Seen Lower After Prior Day's Surge

Mike Taylor

Premarket futures were suggesting a lower open for stocks in New York Friday as traders prepared to lock in some of their gains following a sharp rally late in the prior session.

Futures for the S&P 500 were down 16 points at 891 and were 19 points below fair value. Nasdaq futures were lower by 16 points at 1219 and were 23 short of fair value.

On Thursday, stocks staged an afternoon comeback off steep morning losses stemming from a high unemployment number and bearish corporate earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up more than 500 points.

As the new day arrived, new signs emerged of the credit troubles that are continuing to rock the ailing financial sector. The Wall Street Journal reported that Citigroup (C Quote) is gearing up to cut 10,000 jobs and raise interest rates on many credit-card customers.

Elsewhere among financials, Dexia SA is getting set to sell its bond-insurance segment FSA Holding to Assured Guaranty (AGO Quote). Meanwhile, the BBC reported that the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS Quote) is eliminating 3,000 jobs over the next several weeks.

At a time when financial and consumer firms were facing difficulties offering credit to customers, the Journal reported that software behemoth Microsoft (MSFT Quote) would offer 0% financing for clients who spend $20,000 to $1 million on its customer-management and accounting software.

Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke at the European Central Banking Conference. Bernanke said that turmoil in the financial system has warranted international help and that markets remain severely strained. His speech comes as world leaders prepare for a summit in Washington over the next couple of days. The Group of Twenty finance ministers and central bank officials plan to meet to discuss the worldwide financial meltdown.

In the earnings department, Freddie Mac (FRE Quote), the mortgage company that has been among those central to the credit crisis, announced a $25.3 billion third-quarter loss.

Retailers were also showing signs of weakness. Department-store operator Kohl's (KSS Quote) reported declining profit and cut its full-year guidance. Nordstrom (JWN Quote) also cut its earnings outlook.

J.C. Penney (JCP Quote) said its profit dropped 53% year over year, and the department-store operator guided below analysts' estimates.

As for analyst actions, UBS lowered its rating on European pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK Quote) to neutral from buy, citing valuation.

Shifting to the day's economic data, the Census Bureau reported that October retail sales declined 2.8%, following a 1.3% decline in September. Economists were expecting a 2.1% decrease.

September business inventories and a preliminary November consumer-sentiment survey from the University of Michigan are also on the docket.

Over in the commodities space, crude oil was down 10 cents to $58.14 a barrel. Gold was adding $30 to $735 an ounce.

Longer-dated U.S. Treasury securities were rising in price. The 10-year was up 30/32 to yield 3.74%, and the 30-year was surging 2-2/32, yielding 4.24%. The dollar was rising vs. the euro but weakening against the pound and yen.

Abroad, European exchanges, including the FTSE in London and the DAX in Frankfurt, were working their way higher. The European Union disclosed Friday that the 15 countries that use the euro are in recession.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed with gains.