Futures Lower on Global Slowdown Fears

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stock futures were pointing to a lower open Tuesday as continuing weakness in Asia prompted global slowdown fears ahead of a bevy of economic reports in the U.S.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down by 15 points at 9,964 and were 34.73 points below fair value. Futures for the S&P 500 were lower by 2 points at 1043.1 and were 4.67 points below fair value, while Nasdaq futures were down by 9.25 points and were 10.27 points below fair value.

The Dow dropped 141 points Monday after sluggish consumer spending figures dragged down investor sentiment and brought economic recovery doubts back to the fore.

Though under pressure all morning, futures did trim some of their losses after the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city composite home price index for June showed prices rose 4.2% since last year. Wall Street was looking for a year-over-year increase of 3.1%, according to Briefing.com. In May, home prices tracked up 4.6% from a year earlier.

But a rush of macroeconomic data will continue throughout the morning. At 9:45 a.m., the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index is expected to show a slowdown in manufacturing activity in the Midwest. The August index is projected to register a 57, down from a 62.3 reading in July.

Soon after at 10 a.m., the Conference Board is scheduled to unveil its August read on consumer confidence. The measure, which registered a 50.4 last month, is expected to edge just lower to read 50 this month.

The Federal Reserve will also release minutes from the most recent meeting of its policy-making arm. The August confab of the Federal Open Market Committee ended with policymakers leaving the key fed funds rate unchanged at near zero. But with economic indicators waning on several fronts, the market will be sifting for more details behind the group's decision to reinvest proceeds from agency debt and mortgage-backed securities into long-term Treasuries. The minutes will be released at 2 p.m.

According to a survey of analysts and investors, it's believed Dell will drop out of the bidding war to acquire 3Par, Reuters said. Hewlett-Packard ratcheted up its bid to $30 a share last week, giving Dell until Wednesday to reply.

HSBC said in a statement that its $3.56 billion sale of its auto finance units in the U.S. to Banco Santander was completed.

Saks shares were surging higher in premarket after the U.K.'s Daily Mail said a private-equity buyout could be in the works for the retailer.

Though the earnings slate will be light Tuesday, a few retailers reported in the morning. Dollar General(DG) said it lifted its full-year outlook and topped bottomed line estimates, reporting earnings of 42 cents a share. DSW(DSW), the shoe retailer, also topped forecasts, saying its earnings improved to 52 cents a share in the second quarter from 17 cents a share at the same time last year, helped by widening gross margins.

In commodity markets, crude oil for October delivery was losing $1.06, to trade at $73.64 a barrel, and the December gold contract was improving $5.70 to trade at $1,244.90 an ounce.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note was up by 14/32, diluting the yield to 2.481%.

Meanwhile, the dollar was trading lower against a basket of currencies, with the dollar index down by nearly 0.3%.

Overseas, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1% lower, while Japan's Nikkei retreated 3.6%. The FTSE in London was dropping 1% and the DAX in Frankfurt was sliding 0.9%.

--Written by Sung Moss in New York.

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