Futures Forecast Lower Open for U.S. Stocks

Earnings reports are again the focus as traders prepare for trading Thursday.

Author:: Mike Taylor
Publish date:: Nov 6, 2008 6:50 AM EST

Premarket futures were forecasting a lower open for stocks on Wall Street Thursday, as traders sized up a new round of corporate earnings statements.

Futures for the

S&P 500

were down 14 points at 944 and were 7.5 below fair value.

Nasdaq

futures were losing 31 points at 1275 and were 26 short of fair value.

On Wednesday, stocks finished with heavy losses as bearish economic data and profit-taking allowed the sellers to take charge following Tuesday's Election Day rally.

After Wednesday's close, investors were sorting through a new heap of quarterly results. Tech bellwether

Cisco

(CSCO) - Get Report

reported profit that was flat year over year even as sales climbed 8.1%.

Media firm

News Corp.

(NWS) - Get Report

reported declining profit and cut its 2009 guidance.

Carmaker

Toyota

(TM) - Get Report

said second-quarter net income declined and it cut its full-year profit forecast.

Traders were waiting for earnings reports from homebuilder

Beazer Homes

(BZH) - Get Report

, asset-management firm

Blackstone

(BX) - Get Report

and entertainment company

World Wrestling

(WWE) - Get Report

Big-box retail firm

Costco

(COST) - Get Report

reported that its October same-store sales were down 1%, although total revenue edged up 2%. The same-store figure fell short of analyst estimates.

Outside earnings, additional corporate headlines were offering signs of trouble.

Bloomberg

reported that

Citigroup

and

Goldman Sachs

(GS) - Get Report

have begun laying off their staff as part of a plan to eliminate more than 12,000 jobs as the financial crisis continues.

Another report by

Bloomberg

indicated that

Cerberus Capital

may give up its stake in

GMAC

, which it owns jointly with

(GM) - Get Report

. The move is intended to allow GMAC to become a bank and secure funding from the government without subjecting Cerberus to additional regulation.

As for economic data, the Department of Labor is set to release its initial jobless claims data for the week ended Nov. 1. A reading on preliminary third-quarter nonfarm productivity from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is also due for release.

In the commodities space, crude oil was down 93 cents to $64.37. Gold was losing $3.60 to $738.80 an ounce.

Longer-dated U.S. Treasury securities were rising in price. The 10-year note was gaining 7/32, yielding 3.68%, and the 30-year was adding 4/32 to yield 4.17%. The dollar was gaining on the euro and pound but falling vs. the yen.

Globally speaking, European exchanges, including the FTSE in London and the DAX in Frankfurt, were trading lower. Asian markets likewise closed to the downside.