NEW YORK, April 18 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were seen slipping at the open on Tuesday before taking cues from corporate earnings, with fully a fifth of all Dow Jones industrial average components due to report.
The Standard & Poor's 500 futures index for June was off 3.70 points at 1,409 while the Nasdaq 100 futures for June lost 17.50 points to 3,560.
Analysts said some stocks may feel the pressure from Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE:TXN - news), maker of computer chips for mobile phones, which posted expectation-topping first quarter profits, but fell short of unofficial ``whisper' estimates.
``I think we may get a little bit of a downer at the open,' said Thom Brown, managing director of Rutherford Brown and Catherwood. ``There was some disappointment with Texas Instruments' earnings. That may carry over. The focus right now is on earnings.'
Brown said the inflation worries that sent the market into a steep drop last week were being pushed aside by attention on the quarterly status reports on corporate performance. Six of the 30 Dow stocks were set to post earnings, including Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE:KO - news), Philip Morris Cos. Inc. (NYSE:MO - news), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - news), Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT - news), Intel Corp. (NasdaqNM:INTC - news) and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM - news).
Wall Street was also awaiting news on U.S. home construction in March, with economists polled by Reuters forecasting housing starts likely slipped to an annualized rate of 1.729 million units in March from 1.781 million units in February.
The Commerce Department will release the data at 8:30 a.m. (1230 GMT).
Although a dip could suggest some cooling of the economy, a larger-than-expected jump in inflation at the consumer level that was reported on Friday has already put investors on red alert for interest rate hikes to ward off inflation.
``I think this market is not finished with what it should have done yesterday,' said James Volk, co-director of institutional trading at D.A. Davidson & Co. ``This rally was premature. The earnings continue to be better than expected, which is good for the long term. In the short term, more work needs to be done on the downside.'
On Monday, stocks began a recovery from steep losses that had been exacerbated by the high U.S. Consumer Price Index number reported Friday, with the Nasdaq composite index (^IXIC - news) jumping 217.87 points, or 6.56 percent, to 3,539.16. It was the tech-packed index's biggest one-day point gain.
The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI - news) ran up 276.74 points, or 2.69 percent, to 10,582.51, led higher by conglomerate General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE - news) and consumer products giant Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:PG - news).
With Monday's gains, the Dow is now off 7.96 percent for the year, while the Nasdaq is down 13.03 percent.
The broader market also pushed higher as bonds dropped. The Standard & Poor's 500 index (^SPX - news) rose 44.88 points, or 3.31 percent to 1,401.44.
The 30-year U.S. Treasury bond was up 12/32, driving down the yield to 5.90 percent from Monday's close at 5.94 percent.
Among the stocks to watch on Tuesday, drug giant Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - news) posted first-quarter earnings per share of 28 cents, excluding a gain, before the market opened. It closed at 38.
Online business auctioneer FreeMarkets Inc. (NasdaqNM:FMKT - news) posted a first-quarter loss on Monday that was smaller than Wall Street had expected, and it notched stronger revenues. Its stock closed at 52-3/4.
Semiconductor suppliers posted improved financial results on Monday, including Lattice Semiconductor Corp. (NasdaqNM:LSCC - news) and Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. (NasdaqNM:VTSS - news). Both companies reported after the market closed. Lattice closed at 61-1/16 while Vitesse finished at 73-1/16.
Also on Tuesday, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Edward Boehne will speak on ``Financial Modernisation' at the University of Delaware at 1930 EDT (2330 GMT) |
