Stocks Head Toward Flat Open Before GDP (Market Update)
June 25th, 2009
News at a Glance
- Fed Funk: Concerns over outlook leave futures stalled.
- Growth Update: Q1 GDP revision due out at 8:30 a.m.
- Asia Optimistic: Asian markets rise despite domestic concern.
- Earnings on tap: Conagra, Accenture and Palm to annouce Thursday.
The Lowdown
Worry over the economy is putting a damper on the market Thursday morning.
U.S. stock futures are pointing down, as traders shrugged off the Federal Reserve’s decision Wednesday to hold the benchmark interest at its record low. Shortly after 6 a.m., Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures were trading right around fair value.
Asian markets rose earlier on the Fed’s decision, but European markets slumped as investors frowned on a report from the International Monetary Fund that warned Ireland was “especially vulnerable” to recent global market turmoil “given its serious internal imbalances.”
Oil prices edged up Thursday morning. At 6:45 a.m., crude traded up 27 cents to $68.94 a barrel.
Corporate News
- Food company ConAgra (CAG) is expected to report fourth quarter earnings before the opening bell. Analysts forecast that the company earned 42 cents per share in the quarter versus 44 cents a year earlier.
- Analysts forecast Accenture (ACN) will report Q3 earnings of 64 cents per share, down from 74 cents in the prior year.
- Palm(PALM) is expected to lose 62 cents per share for Q4. That compares with a loss of 22 cents a year earlier.
The Economy
- The Commerce Department is scheduled to release final first quarter real gross domestic product figures at 8:30 a.m. Analysts expect real GDP– the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the U.S.– to decline by 5.7 percent with no revision from previously announced estimates.
- Also at 8:30 a.m., the Department of Labor will release its weekly jobs report, a measurement of the number of filings for state unemployment benefits.Last week, continuing claims dropped for the first time since the week ended Jan. 3.
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