U.S. Stocks Poised for a Down Open
Wall Street was heading for a drop at the open Friday as investors took their cue from the resumption of climbing oil prices and unloaded equity positions ahead of a three-day holiday weekend. U.S. markets will be closed Monday in observance of Memorial Day.
S&P 500
futures were losing 6.5 points to 1387 and were nearly 8 points under fair value. Futures on the Nasdaq 100 were off 8 points to 1959 and were about 9 points behind fair value.
Last time out, the major averages turned out some thinly-traded gains as traders attempted to dust themselves off following a brutal couple of days for stocks. At the end of the day, the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
was up 24 points to 12,626, and the
S&P 500
rose 4 points at 1394. The
Nasdaq Composite
tacked on 16 points to 2465.
On Friday, crude oil was taking back some of yesterday's losses, which had worked minimally to deflate some of futures' stunning gains over the past few weeks. Crude was rising $1.46 to $132.27 a barrel.
Gold futures were adding $7.40 to $925.70 an ounce. The U.S. dollar was back on a downward track, losing 0.2% against the euro and softening by 0.7% against the yen.
Investors were also girding for new data on the ravaged housing sector, with the National Association of Realtors due to release its April existing home-sales data at 10 a.m. EDT.
As for equities, striking workers at
American Axle
(AXL) - Get Report
-- the main parts supplier to automaker
General Motors
(GM) - Get Report
-- voted to accept a new employment contract and return to work next week. The strike had lasted about three months and forced GM to idle several of its manufacturing plants.
In earnings, information-technology firm
CA
(CA) - Get Report
issued bullish full-year guidance even as results came in short of analyst estimates for the most recent quarter.
Also, clothing retailer
Gap
(GPS) - Get Report
booked a climbing profit of $249 million, or 34 cents a share, but analysts were looking for 4 cents more per share. Sales also fell to a lower-than-expected $3.38 billion.
Aeropostale
(ARO)
, another apparel seller, edged ahead of last quarter's bottom-line consensus as the company achieved sizable year-over-year gains in both earnings and revenue.
Treasury prices were rising. The 10-year note ticked up 4/32 in price to yield 3.89%, and the 30-year bond gained 5/32 in price, yielding 4.61%.
Markets abroad were mostly falling. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo added 0.2% overnight, but the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong slid 1.3%. Among European bourses, the FTSE 100 slumped 0.6% and Germany's Xetra Dax was off 0.5%. The Paris Cac surrendered 1%.