Futures Forecast Lower Open for U.S. Stocks
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
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reported profit that was flat year over year even as sales climbed 8.1%.
Media firm
News Corp.
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reported declining profit and cut its 2009 guidance.
Carmaker
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Toyota
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said second-quarter net income declined and it cut its full-year profit forecast.
Traders were waiting for earnings reports from homebuilder
Beazer Homes
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, asset-management firm
Blackstone
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and entertainment company
World Wrestling
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.
Big-box retail firm
Costco
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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
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and
Goldman Sachs
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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
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. 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.
