M A R K E T .. S N A P S H O T --Stocks poised to backpedal
Investors set for another bust earnings week
By Julie Rannazzisi, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 7:48 AM ET Oct 22, 2001
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- The stock indexes are poised for a sloppy start Monday as the second-busiest earnings week kicks off.
December S&P 500 futures shed 2.90 points, or 0.3 percent, and were trading about 6.20 points below fair value, according to HL Camp & Co. Nasdaq futures edged down 3.50 points, or 0.3 percent, while the Dow Jones Indicative Index erased 5 points, or 0.1 percent, to 9,199.
Trading was on the light side Monday, with stocks showing a negative bias in pre-open activity.
A total of eight Dow companies set to unveil their financial results this week. And approximately 80 percent of the S&P 500 will have reported by the end of the week.
Earnings compiler Thomson Financial/First Call expects third-quarter results to show a decline of 22 percent from the year-ago period.
The Dow companies reporting this week are SBC Communications, American Express, 3M, AT&T, Exxon Mobil, Eastman Kodak, DuPont, Honeywell. Investors will also hear from numerous pharmaceutical and biotech concerns as well as a string of energy companies. Among the tech outfits on tap are Vitesse Semi, Amazon LSI Logic, Compaq Computer, Flextronics, JDS Uniphase WorldCom and Ericsson.
On the fund flow front, Trim Tabs reported that U.S. equity funds saw inflows of $1.5 billion in the three days ending Oct. 18 for a monthly rate of $11.2 billion. Bond and hybrid funds saw inflows of $1.4 billion.
The fund flow tracker noted that corporate liquidity remained bearish last week with a scant number of cash takeovers and few announced stock buybacks. Conversely, many new offerings were sold, consisting primarily of convertible stocks.
Trim Tabs observes that while stock buybacks spiked during the first week of trading after the Sept. 11 attacks, it has stopped in its tracks. "We remain bearish. The simple reason: Corporate investors remain bearish," the firm commented.
Treasury focus
Treasury prices recovered after Friday's sell-off as investors took prices higher on anticipated sogginess in the stock arena.
The 10-year Treasury note rose 7/32 to yield ($TNX) 4.59 percent while the 30-year government bond climbed 1/4 to yield ($TYX) 5.34 percent.
Monday will see the release of September leading economic indicators, a number that, despite the name, is one of the most lagging economic reports as it ties together data that has already been released.
Significant economic news will be light this week. Among the highlights: the Fed's Beige Book report on economic conditions, September durable goods orders, September existing home sales, the third-quarter employment cost index and September new home sales. Read and check economic calendar and forecasts.
In the currency sector, the dollar gained 0.3 percent to 121.53 yen while the euro erased 0.1 percent to 89.75 cents. |
