Thread: Market News

08:33 am : S&P futures vs fair value: -32.90. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -36.00. Futures indicate a sharply lower start to the session. Holding company Loews Corp (L) reported a third quarter net loss per share of $0.33, compared to a profit of $0.58 per share a year ago. Loews will inject $1.25 billion into CNA Financial Corp after the insurance company reported a loss, Bloomberg reports. In commodity trading, crude oil futures continue to tumble, now down 3.0% to $62.22 per barrel.

08:59 am : S&P futures vs fair value: -19.70. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -17.80. Stock futures recover a lot of ground, although a lower start is still expected. At session lows that were reached around 4:00 AM ET, S&P 500 futures were 52 points below fair value and Nasdaq 100 futures were 69 points below fair value.

08:02 am : S&P futures vs fair value: +27.50. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +41.80. Futures trade near session highs and point to a sharply higher open . Asian markets rallied, and European markets are currently posting strong gains. In corporate news, Chrysler and GM (GM) had their credit ratings cut at Moody's, Ford's (F) rating was put on review for a downgrade. Wal-Mart (WMT) plans to cut its store expansion plans, the Wall Street Journal reports. GE (GE) used the Fed's commercial paper facility, according to reports. Boeing (BA) and its machinist union have reached a tentative four-year agreement, the Financial Times reports. In earnings news, BP (BP), Occidental Petroleum and Valero Energy (VLO) all topped expectations. Whirlpool (WHR) posted higher than expected earnings for its latest quarter, but gave downside guidance and announced 5,000 job cuts.

08:30 am : S&P futures vs fair value: +24.90. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +37.80. Futures continue to suggest a sharply higher start. U.S. Steel (X) reported third quarter earnings of $7.79, which was $0.70 better than the average analyst estimate. However, the steel company did acknowledge it having "significant negative effects" on its business.

09:02 am : S&P futures vs fair value: +23.90. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +36.50. Futures have slipped from session highs, but continue to suggest a strong start. August home prices in 20 major metro areas fell 16.62% year-over-year, according to the S&P/CaseShiller Index. This was nearly in-line with the expected drop of 16.60%.

08:01 am : S&P futures vs fair value: +26.70. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +27.50. A positive tone is indicated early on as quarterly announcements continue to pile up. Oil companies Pride International (PDE), Murphy Oil (MUR), and BJ Services (BJS) each announced better-than-expected earnings per share results. Murphy and BJ, however, issued downside guidance. In the utilities sector, Dominion (D) and DTE Energy (DTE) topped earnings expectations. Elsewhere, Colgate Palmolive (CL) announced earnings per share results that exceeded the consensus estimate, and expects double-digit earnings growth to continue in 2009. Visa (V) and CME Group (CME) posted upside results for its latest quarter. Investors await the advance third quarter GDP report, which is due at the bottom of the hour.

08:33 am : S&P futures vs fair value: +28.40. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +21.50. Futures continue to indicate a positive start to the session. The advance third quarter GDP report indicated the economy contracted at an annualized rate of 0.3%. The consensus called for a 0.5% decline. Second quarter GDP was unrevised at a 2.8% increase. Third quarter personal consumption was down 3.1%, which is below the consensus estimate of a 2.4% decline, and down from the prior month reading of a 1.2% advance. Core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) was up 2.9%, above the 2.5% reading that was expected and also up from the prior quarter's 2.2% advance. Advance third quarter GDP Price Index came in at 4.2%, which is above the 4.0% reading that was widely expected. The price index for the second quarter was 1.1%. Jobless claims for the week ending October 25 totaled 479,000, which is even with the prior week and slightly ahead of the consensus estimate.

08:02 am : S&P futures vs fair value: -9.90. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -21.30. Stock futures currently indicate a relatively negative bias ahead of the session's opening bell. The Japanese central bank has cut its unsecured overnight lending rate to 0.3% from 0.5%. The move follows rate cuts by other Asian central banks yesterday. Barclays (BCS) is receiving a $12 billion capital infusion from a group of investors from the Middle East, according to reports. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that owed to regulatory concern a search deal between Yahoo! (YHOO) and Google (GOOG) is looking less likely. On the earnings front, Aon (AOC) topped earnings per share expectations, as did American Electric (AEP). Electronic Arts (ERTS) posted a loss for its latest quarter, but it was still in-line with expectations.

[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: -6.60. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -16.00. Futures are improved, but continue to indicate a negative tone. September personal income was up 0.2%, which is slightly better than the 0.1% increase that was expected. August personal income was revised lower to reflect a 0.4% increase. Personal spending was down 0.3%, which is slightly worse than the consensus estimate of a 0.2% decline. Spending in August was flat. September core personal consumption expenditures deflator were up 0.2% month-over-month and up 2.4% year-over-year. Month-over-month figures were a bit better than the expected increase of 0.1% and the year-over-year increase was in-line with expectations. The PCE deflator was up 4.2% year-over-year, just ahead of the 4.1% increase that was expected.

[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: -0.20. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -12.30. Stock futures continue to improve ahead of the session's start. Diversified chemical company Clorox (CLX) posted better-than-expected earnings per share results for its latest quarter. Integrated oil company Chevron (CVX) also posted strong results that exceeded Wall Street's expectations. Crude futures are trading below $65 per barrel; they were trading below $64 per barrel earlier. Overnight Libor rates continue to ease, coming in at 0.406%, down more than 32 basis points from the prior overnight rate.

I wonder if someone out there can tell me how this can happen: Thursday the EAFE (I fund) closed at $44.28 and the TSP I fund closed at $14.2298. On Friday - EAFE $44.57 and TSP $14.1951. How did EAFE go up and the TSP go down on Friday? It just don't make sense to me.