Stock futures indicate a sharply lower start to the final day of a
week that saw fresh 2009 highs for the major averages, including the
DJIA's push to above 10,000 for the first time in a year.
Futures slumped after disappointing revenue from industrial and
financial conglomerate General Electric (
GE). Futures accelerated
losses after Bank of America (
BAC) missed, adding to a story of mixed
financial earnings this week.
Crude oil for November delivery was last down 48 cents, or 0.7%, to
$77.10 a barrel. Earlier, oil hit $78.17 per barrel in electronic
trading -- the highest level for a front-month contract since October
2008. Crude futures jumped more than 3% on Thursday after government
data showed an unexpectedly large drop in gasoline inventories.
Gold futures fell Friday for a third session, trading below the
all-time record above $1,050 an ounce hit earlier this week. The metal
fell as the U.S. dollar rebounded against the euro, reducing gold's
investment appeal. Gold for December delivery fell 0.5% to $1,045.80 an
ounce.
The earnings calendar was busy last evening and this morning.
Bank of America (
BAC) reports a Q3 loss of $0.26 vs income of $0.15
in the year ago period. The Thomson Reuters mean analyst estimate was
for a loss of $0.21.
Revenue net of interest rose 32% to $26.4 billion. The Street looked for $27.6 billion.
Google (
GOOG) is upgraded to Buy vs Hold by The Benchmark Co. after
the Internet search engine's results out in Thursday's after-hours.
The analyst expects continued momentum because large advertisers
have returned, the seasonally strongest period of the year is starting,
currency impacts are turning positive and comparisons are getting
easier. It lifted its price target to $625 from $500, according to a
report on MarketWatch. Goldman Sachs, Bank of America/Merrill, UBS and
JP Morgan all raised their price targets to above $600 a share.
Late Thursday,
GOOG reported Q3 revenue of $4.38 bln, ex Traffic
Acquisition Costs, better than the analyst mean of $4.24 bln on Thomson
Reuters. Non-GAAP EPS was $5.89 per share, ahead of Street estimates of
$5.42 per share.
AMD is lower despite reporting a loss that was smaller than the Street view;
IBM is lower after reporting a revenue decline.
U.S. PRE-MARKET INDICATORS
-Dow Industrial futures down 54 points.
-S&P 500 futures down 7 points.
-Nasdaq 100 futures down 9 points.
-Nasdaq-100 Pre-Market Indicator down 4.06 at 1749.3.
GLOBAL SENTIMENT
Nikkei up 0.2%
Hang Seng down 0.3%
FTSE-100 down 0.5%
PRE-MARKET SECTOR WATCH
(+,-) Large cap tech: mixed
(-) Chip stocks: lower
(+,-) Drug stocks: mixed
(-) Software stocks: lower
(+) Internet stocks: mostly higher
(-) Financial stocks: mostly lower
(-,+) Auto stocks: mixed
(+,-) Airline stocks: mixed
(+,-) Retail stocks: mixed
DOWNSIDE MOVERS
(-) GE (-3%) misses with revenue.
(-) BAC (-5.4%) reports quarterly loss.
(-) NOK (-1.2%) downgraded a day after earnings miss.
(-) IBM (-4.8%) continuing evening downside that followed declining revenue.
(-) AMD (-5.8%) continues evening decline seen despite smaller loss than Street expected, revenue beat.
(-) ELY (-3.4%) continues evening decline that followed sales warning.
UPSIDE MOVERS
(+) GOOG (+3.2%) beats with results; analysts raise price targets.
(+) MAT (+2.2%) meets with results.
(+) EL (+4.8%) guides for Q1 to be well above prior guidance.
(+) TRGT (+19.5%) reports positive trial data.
(+) SLT (+3.3%) prices notes.
(+) HAL (+1.2%) beats with Q3 results.
