Futures Point to Rough Start for Stocks
06/20/08 - 08:38 AM EDT
Mike Taylor
Stock futures were pointing to a lower open for the final session of the week on Wall Street, as traders positioned themselves ahead of the expiration of various options and futures.
S&P 500 futures were down 11 points at 1331 and were 14 points under fair value. Nasdaq 100 futures were off 13 points at 1978 and were 16 points below fair value. On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average tacked on 34 points to 12,063, and the S&P was up 5 at 1343. The Nasdaq was the best performer, rising 32 points, or 1.3%, to 2462. As investors geared up for the new session, the monoline insurers, who have had so much sway over the market in recent months, appeared poised again to weigh down the financial group and the major indices. Following the prior close, Moody's downgraded both MBIA (MBI Quote - Cramer on MBI - Stock Picks) and Ambac Financial (ABK Quote - Cramer on ABK - Stock Picks) from AAA. Standard & Poor's and Fitch have already made similar moves. In the technology space, Yahoo! (YHOO Quote - Cramer on YHOO - Stock Picks) is said to be considering a reorganization in the wake of the attempt by Microsoft (MSFT Quote - Cramer on MSFT - Stock Picks) to take over the company, according to a published report. The Wall Street Journal said the Internet portal is looking at ways to centralize product groups, such as email, search and home-page divisions, and staff changes are also likely to take place. The session could be a volatile one as a number of derivatives trade for the last time. This month, it's quadruple witching, when stock futures, stock options, index futures and index options terminate concurrently. Expiration days can sometimes cause significant moves or swings in the stock market.
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