U.S. Stock Futures Slide: odumba making USA poorer and fiscal fiasco
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By BARBARA KOLLMEYERMADRID—U.S. stock futures pointed to losses for Wall Street on Friday ahead of a clutch of economic data, as a rough third quarter drew to a close.
About three hours before the start of trade, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 104 points to 10994 and those on the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index dropped 12.4 points to 1144. Nasdaq 100 futures fell 18.75 points to 2170.75. Changes in futures don't always accurately reflect early market moves after the opening bell.
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ReutersTraders at the New York Stock Exchange.
Global markets also fell as worries over Europe's sovereign-debt crisis rumbled on. The Stoxx 600 index was off 1.4% on global-growth concerns, hitting car makers like BMWand luxury-goods groups.
The Hang Seng index closed down 2.3%. HSBC's China purchasing managers' index showed the manufacturing sector contracted in September for a third straight month, as domestic and overseas demand remained weak.
Preliminary data showed the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 10.15% in the third quarter, the biggest quarterly percentage drop since the first quarter of 2009, and the first down-quarter since the second quarter of 2010.
"It certainly was a horrific quarter for stock markets ... the only market that escaped any major declines or held steady was the bond market," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital.
Mr. Cardillo said markets will focus on U.S. economic data, but "basically there's no way we can escape closing with major losses and still lots of volatility."
Economic data due Friday include U.S. personal income for August at 8:30 a.m., ET, the Chicago purchasing managers' index for September due at 9:45 a.m. and the University of Michigan consumer-confidence survey for September at 9:55 a.m.
Wall Street finished a choppy session mostly higher on Thursday, with the Dow closing up 143.08 points, or 1.3%, to 11153.98. However, shares of higher-end retail goods companies such as Tiffany & Co. stumbled on fears of a hard landing in China.
On the corporate front, shares of Micron Technology could come under pressure after the firm unexpectedly swung to a fiscal fourth-quarter net loss of $135 million, or 14 cents a share. That news weighed on U.K. chip designer ARM Holdings, which was a top decliner in London.
Shares of Orion Marine Group could be in focus after it said late Thursday that its end market has been experiencing difficulties throughout the year, and it expects margins to stay under pressure for "the foreseeable future."
In deal news, McGraw-Hill Cos. is in advanced talks to combine its S&P Indices business with CME Group's Dow Jones Indexes, according to a report published in The Wall Street Journal's online edition late Thursday. CME owns 90% of the Dow Jones Indexes through a joint venture with Dow Jones & Co. CME would have a minority stake of about 25%, while Dow Jones could have a minimal stake under the deal. Dow Jones is a unit of News Corp. and publishes The Wall Street Journal.
Among commodities, gold futures for December delivery rose $11.70 to $1,629 an ounce, while crude oil for November delivery fell 10 cents to $82.04 a barrel.
The dollar index, which measures the U.S. unit against a basket of six major currencies, rose to 78.238 from 77.917 late Thursday. |
