Stock futures remain lower though did improve modestly after data showed inflation risks so far remain low. The October producer price index is up 0.3% not the 0.5% rise expected; the core PPI fell 0.6% vs a 0.1% gain expected.
Still, the overall decline indicates a market that has advanced in nine of the past 11 sessions needs a break. An improved dollar is pressuring oil and gold this morning.
Oil futures are down $0.50 at $78.44 a barrel. December gold fell $9.90, or 0.9%, to $1,129.30 an ounce in recent electronic trading on Globex. The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, traded at 75.383 in recent trading, up from 74.908 late Monday. Gold tacked on another 2% in Monday after hitting an all-time high of $1,144.20 an ounce.
Still on tap, data on industrial production this morning. The NAHB's housing market index will be released in the afternoon. Post-bell earnings releases include: ADSK and CRM.
Retail earnings has been mixed this morning.
Home Depot (
HD) is lower after it reported Q3 earnings of $0.41 per share, a nickel better than the analyst mean on Thomson Reuters. Sales were $16.4 bln, ahead of expectations of $16.2 bln. For FY09, the company continues to expect sales to be down about 9% for the year. Adjusted EPS is seen at about $1.55 per share. The Street view is an 8% decline in sales and earnings of $1.53 per share.
Pacific Sunwear (
PSUN) continues its evening slide that followed earnings. The company reported Q3 sales of $268 mln, better than the analyst mean of $260 mln on Thomson Reuters. Loss for the quarter as $0.17 per share, narrower than expectations of a loss of $0.20 per share. For Q4, the company expects a same-store sales percentage decline in the low twenties. It see a loss of $0.28 to $0.35 per share, including about $5 mln in charges. The Street view is a loss of $0.11 per share, excluding items.
Target (
TGT) says it earned $0.58 per share in Q3, more than the FactSet Research mean for $0.50. Sales were $14.8 billion, in line with estimates.
In technology news:
Palm (
PALM) is an early gainer after Kaufman Bros. reportedly raised its rating on the issue to Buy from Hold.
Semitool (
SMTL) is higher after announcing it will be sold to Applied Materials (
AMAT) for $11 a share cash.
-S&P 500 futures down 2 points.
-Nasdaq 100 futures down 6 points.
-Nasdaq-100 Pre-Market Indicator down 2.47 at 1805.09.
GLOBAL SENTIMENT
Nikkei down 0.6%
Hang Seng down 0.1%
FTSE-100 down 0.6%
PRE-MARKET SECTOR WATCH
(+,-) Large cap tech: mixed
(-) Chip stocks: mostly lower
(+,-) Drug stocks: mixed
(+,-) Software stocks: mixed
(+,-) Internet stocks: mixed
(-) Financial stocks: mostly lower
(+) Auto stocks: mostly firmer
(-) Airline stocks: lower
(+,-) Retail stocks: mixed
UPSIDE MOVERS
(+) SMTL (+30%) sold to AMAT for $11 a share.
(+) NGSX (+9.2%) gets FDA approval for shingles patch.
(+) PALM (+3.2%) gets analyst upgrade.
(+) CSIQ (+2.2%) beats with Q3 results.
(+) TGT (+0.2%) beats with Q3 results.
DOWNSIDE MOVERS
(-) SPWRA (-13.7%) continues evening slide after disclosing unsubstantiated accounting entries.
(-) PSUN (-22.2%) adds to evening slide that followed Q3 beat but guidance for Q4 loss.
(-) DCGN (-73.9%) files for Ch. 11.
(-) HD (-2.1%) beats with Q3, guides for FY09 earnings to mostly beat.
(-) CERS (-13.6%) gets positive FDA panel opiniong on Intercept but must change safety margins.
