Stock futures point toward lower open following run-up
NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks headed for a lower opening today after putting up big gains last week and as investors readied for quarterly corporate earnings reports.
With the Treasury bond market closed for the Columbus Day holiday and no major economic news expected, stock market investors will be looking for any corporate news to guide them.
The third-quarter results being reported will reflect the difficult times some companies have faced Ã¢â‚¬â€ť particularly in the financial sector Ã¢â‚¬â€ť following upheaval in the credit markets and amid a souring of some home mortgages.
But a sense that corporations are likely to bounce back from some of the concerns that upended credit markets last quarter helped drive stocks higher last week. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.23 percent and set a new record, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index hit a record after gaining 2.02 percent last week and the Nasdaq composite index gained 2.92 percent. A pullback isn't unexpected following such gains.
Ahead of the bell on Monday, Dow futures fell 26.00, or 0.18 percent, to 14,130. S&P 500 index futures fell 5.60, or 0.36 percent, to 1,565.10, while Nasdaq composite index futures fell 6.25, or 0.29 percent, to 2,164.50.
Light, sweet crude fell 65 cents to $80.57 per barrel in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
News from companies over the health of their profits and comments about their expectations for the fourth quarter are likely to draw attention on Wall Street this week. S&P expects tepid results, predicting a modest decline in total earnings per share for S&P 500 companies. However, it expects growth in the fourth quarter.
Among companies Wall Street will be looking to Monday is Yum Brands Inc. The parent of fast-food chains KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, is slated to report results Monday.
Overseas, markets in Japan were closed for a holiday. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.43 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 0.24 percent, and France's CAC-40 declined 0.23 percent.