Futures Down on China Rate Hike Fears
NEW YORK (
) -- Stock futures pointed to a weaker open Friday following a decline in global markets as
investors feared China would increase interest rates to cool its fast-growing economy.
Futures for the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
were down by 56 points, or 61 points below fair value, at 11,186. Futures for the
S&P 500
were 9 points lower, or 9 points below fair value, at 1203.
Nasdaq
futures were down by 16 points, or 14 points below fair value.
Stocks retreated Thursday after a weaker-than-expected sales outlook from
Cisco
(CSCO) - Get Cisco Systems Inc. Report
prompted investors to sell off tech stocks and Irish bonds were pressured by concerns about the country's debt level.
On Thursday, China said its consumer price index rose 4.4% year over year in October, bringing average inflation for the year to 3% -- the government's target. That has increased the likelihood that the country will enact measures to slow economic growth.
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Speculation about the Chinese rate hike weighed on
metals prices
-- particularly copper -- and hit the shares of related equities. Ahead of Friday's opening bell,
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold
(FCX) - Get Freeport-McMoRan Inc. Report
was down 2.9% to $104.88,
Southern Copper
(SCCO) - Get Southern Copper Corporation Report
was off by 3% to $45.32 and
Newmont Mining
(NEM) - Get Newmont Corporation Report
was down 2.4% to $61.50.
In commodity markets, the January crude oil contract was down by $1.87, to trade at $85.94 a barrel. The December gold contract was down by $19.12 to $1,384.10 an ounce.
Leaders of the world's major economies wouldn't agree to back the U.S. in an effort to get China to let its currency rise at the end of the
two-day G20 summit in Seoul, South Korea.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 1.9% and Japan's Nikkei lost 1.4% on Friday. The FTSE in London was down by 0.3% and the DAX in Frankfurt was off by 0.2%.
At 9:55 a.m. EST, the University of Michigan's releases its November consumer sentiment index. Economists expect the index to hit 69, up from October's reading of 67.7.
|
Mizuho Financial
(MFG) - Get Mizuho Financial Group Inc. Sponosred ADR (Japan) Report
said it will purchase a 2% stake in
BlackRock
(BLK) - Get BlackRock Inc. Report
.
Morgan Stanley
(MS) - Get Morgan Stanley Report
saw its stock down 1.2% to $26 after a
New York Times
report said the company will likely spin off its quantitative trading group in response to the Dodd-Frank Act that limits proprietary trading.
Shares of
Nvidia
(NVDA) - Get NVIDIA Corporation Report
were up 4.5% to $13.18 ahead of Friday's opening bell after the company surpassed analysts' profit expectations and issued better-than-expected fourth-quarter sales guidance late Thursday.
Walt Disney's
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stock traded 2.4% higher to $36.79 in early trading, coming back after the company missed fourth-quarter earnings expectations and said sales fell by 1.3% to $9.74 billion. Disney said it plans to increase capital expenditures by $1 billion in 2011.
The dollar traded lower against a basket of currencies with the dollar index down by 0.3% and the benchmark 10-year Treasury note weakened 5/32, lifting the yield to 2.666%.
.
--Written by Melinda Peer in New York
.
Disclosure: TheStreet's editorial policy prohibits staff editors and reporters from holding positions in any individual stocks.
