Stock Futures Pause on Stronger Dollar
NEW YORK (
) -- U.S. stock futures pointed to a mixed and largely flat open Wednesday as the U.S. dollar strengthened on an expected extension of the Bush-era tax cuts.
Futures for the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
were down by 13 points, or 7 points below fair value, at 11,342. Futures for the
S&P 500
were marginally higher, or a quarter of a point above fair value, at 1,223, and
Nasdaq
futures were ahead by nearly 4 points, or nearly 4 points above fair value.
Stocks flattened at the close Tuesday, coming down from earlier gains on news that President Obama reached an agreement with congressional Republicans to temporarily extend tax cuts for all income levels and keep unemployment benefits in place.
Late Tuesday, Ireland's €6 billion austerity budget passed an initial vote in parliament, paving the way for Ireland to receive the €67.5 billion aid package from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
On Wednesday, the euro dipped against the dollar to $1.3229 from $1.3274. The dollar strengthened against a basket of currencies, with the dollar index up by 0.4%. The FTSE in London was down by 0.1% and the DAX in Frankfurt was off by 0.2%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.4% amid growing speculation that
China could raise interest rates as early as this weekend to slow economic growth and curb inflation. Japan's Nikkei added 0.9%.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said mortgage applications volume fell 0.9% in the week ended Dec. 3 on a seasonally adjusted basis from the prior week.
At 10:30 a.m. EST, the Energy Information Administration will issue its weekly read on energy inventories. Analysts polled by Platts anticipate a drawdown of 1 million barrels in the week ended Dec. 3.
Late Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute said oil supplies shed 7.34 million barrels last week.
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Shares of
Costco
(COST) - Get Report
were up 0.2% to $69.80 ahead of Wednesday's opening bell after the wholesale retailer said first-quarter earnings increased 17% and sales surged 11%.
Home Depot
(HD) - Get Report
said it expects year-end sales to increase 2.3% and earnings from continuing operations are slated to jump 27% to $1.97 a share. That compares with previous forecasts for sales growth of 2.2% and per-share earnings of $1.94. The stock was down 0.8% to $33.30 in early trading.
Fortune Brands
(FO)
saw its stock jump 4.7% to $64 in premarket trading after it confirmed reports that it would break itself up into three separate companies. Fortune will spin off its home and security division to shareholders, sell or spin off its golf products unit and continue as a public liquor company.
Steelmaker
ArcelorMittal
(MT) - Get Report
plans to spin off its stainless-steel unit in the first quarter of 2011, resulting in a noncash impairment charge of roughly $800 million. Shares listed on the
New York Stock Exchange
were ahead by 0.2% to $35.77.
Shares of
Starwood Hotels
(HOT)
were up by 1.4% to $60.75 as the company said it anticipates annual per-share earnings growth of 35% to 42% through 2013.
In commodity markets, the January crude oil contract was down by 61 cents to trade at $88.08 a barrel. The most actively traded February gold contract traded $18.50 lower to $1,390.50 an ounce.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note weakened 18/32, lifting the yield to 3.209%.
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--Written by Melinda Peer in New York
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Disclosure: TheStreet's editorial policy prohibits staff editors and reporters from holding positions in any individual stocks.