Stock Futures Dip After Housing Data

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stock futures were under a bit of pressure Wednesday as the markets awaited the Federal Reserve's Beige Book survey of economic conditions and after a batch of mixed housing markets data.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were sliding 29 points, or 32.54 points below fair value, at 12,708. Futures for the S&P 500 were slipping 4.1 points, or 4.17 points below fair value, at 1354. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 were shedding 5.75 points, or 4.4 points below fair value, at 2581.

Stocks finished solidly higher Tuesday as above-consensus earnings reports helped investors move past the latest evidence that more monetary stimulus is unlikely from the Fed this summer, in the wake of Chairman Ben Bernanke's downbeat appearance before Congress.

Housing data and anecdotal evidence on economic conditions across the Fed districts are included in the U.S. economic calendar Wednesday.

The Department of Commerce reported that housing starts rose 6.9% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 760,000, from May's upwardly revised 711,000. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected a June pace of 745,000.

Building permits fell 3.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 755,000 from the upwardly revised May rate of 784,000. Economists, on average, expected a rate of 765,000 for June.

At 2 p.m., the Fed's beige book survey of business conditions in 12 districts will be released. The report arrives two weeks before the Federal Open Market Committee convenes for its next monetary policy meeting.

Meanwhile, Bernanke heads into the second day of his semi-annual monetary policy testimony before the House Financial Services Committee at 10 a.m.

In corporate news, Bank of America (BAC) reported second-quarter earnings of 19 cents a share. Revenue decreased 1% from the previous quarter to $22.2 billion.

Analysts were expecting earnings of 14 cents a share on revenue of $22.9 billion.

Intel (INTC), the world's biggest semiconductor company, delivered an above-consensus profit for the second quarter but tempered revenue expectations for the full year.

Yahoo! (YHOO) posted quarterly earnings Tuesday that topped expectations, but revenue came in a bit light.

New CEO Marissa Mayer wasn't on the Internet company's earnings conference call.

Credit Suisse (CS), the Swiss bank, raised 8.7 billion Swiss francs ($8.9 billion) to bolster its capital base.

The bank also said second-quarter net profit rose 2.6% to 788 million francs from 768 million francs a year earlier.

Both the FTSE in London and the DAX in Germany were trading sideways. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index finished down 1.11% and the Nikkei in Japan closed down 0.32%.

August crude oil futures were falling 45 cents to $88.77. August gold futures were off $11.10 to $1,578.40 an ounce.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury was up 7/32, lowering the yield to 1.485%, while the greenback was increasing by 0.29%, according to the dollar index.

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-- Written by Andrea Tse in New York.



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