LONDON (MarketWatch) — Futures for U.S. stocks lost ground Tuesday, as investors prepared to gauge consumer activity via results coming ahead of Wall Street's open from retailers such as Home Depot Inc. and Staples, Inc..
Speeches by Federal Reserve officials may also guide Wall Street's direction at a time of low volume in the equity market.
Click to Play
How to invest in Bill Gross's "new neutral" market Pimco's Gross told Barron's blogger Michael Aneiro that closed-end muni funds and short-duration junk bonds should do well in a low-return world.
Futures for the S&P 500 index (SPM4) slipped 2 points to 1,880.20, while those for the Dow industrials (DJM4) gave up 10 points to 16,471. Futures for the Nasdaq-100 index (NDM4) traded 4 points lower at 3,609.25.
The retail sector will be in focus as home-improvement chain Home Depot (HD) releases financial figures before the market opens. Analysts polled by FactSet are looking for first-quarter earnings to rise to 99 cents a share from a year earlier. Read: For Home Depot's earnings—it's complicated
With results from rival Lowe's Cos. (LOW) due Wednesday, investors will be interested in commentary from the home-improvement retailers about the state of the U.S. housing sector, said Sheraz Mian, director of research at Zacks, in recent note. "There is growing concern that the housing market has lost some of its recent momentum and that the sector's [first-quarter] weakness may have been more than just weather related."
Analysts are also expecting growth at TJX Cos. (TJX) , with the clothing and home furnishings seller likely to report first-quarter earnings of 67 cents a share. Staples (SPLS) is due to report first-quarter earnings of 21 cents and Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. (DKS) is seen reporting earnings of 52 cents a share.
After market close, business software firm Salesforce.com (CRM) is expected to post earnings of 10 cents a share for its first quarter.
Bloomberg Charles Plosser, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. U.S. stocks closed Monday's session higher, led by small-cap and tech companies. Analysts noted that Wall Street's trading volumes were the third-lowest this year, saying an absence of 'bad news' helped support gains. Among key benchmarks, the Nasdaq Composite (COMP) rose 0.9%, and the Russell 2000 (RUT) index of small stocks ended 1% higher.
The heavy run of appearances this week by Federal Reserve officials will continue Tuesday. Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time is expected to talk about the economic outlook at a gathering hosted by Women in Housing & Finance Inc. Plosser, a voting member of the Fed policy committee this year, has called for the Fed to soon wind down its bond-buying program.
At 1 p.m. Eastern, New York Fed President William Dudley will speak at the New York Association for Business Economics. The president of the New York Fed is always a voting member of the policy committee.
On Monday, San Francisco Fed President John Williams said it would likely be more than a year before the central bank begins raising interest rates. Meanwhile, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher lamented the performance of Congress, saying it has acted like a brake on economic growth which the Fed can't overcome with aggressive stimulus policies. Read the recap of the live blog with Williams, Fisher and Bernanke.
Shares of Google Inc. (GOOG) may see action Tuesday after the company said it would buy Divide, a mobile-device management startup, for an undisclosed amount. The move could help Google extend the reach of its Android operations to more business customers.
Ahead of trading on Wall Street, Japanese stocks snapped a four-session losing streak . European stocks turned slightly lower, with Stoxx Europe 600 (XX:SXXP) weighed in part by a decline in Vodafone shares (VOD) after the telecom firm posted a decline in full-year operating profit.
In the resources sector, gold futures (GCM4) fell $2.20, pulling back from the $1,300-an-ounce level, and crude oil (CLM4) slipped 1 cent at $102.60. The ICE dollar index (DXY) rose to 80.087 from 79.935 late Monday.
More news from MarketWatch:Euroskeptics to dominate this week in Europe.
ECB official: Chances of bank acting in June are heightened
Credit Suisse pleads guilty to aiding tax evasion
No comments:
Post a Comment