Texas Instruments, UBS in focus; consumer-confidence data awaited
By William L. Watts, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock-index futures traded slightly lower Tuesday, as investors retreated to the sidelines ahead of a further round of corporate earnings and data on consumer confidence.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJZ10 11,090, -25.00, -0.23%) fell 15 points to 11,100, while S&P 500 futures (SPZ10 1,181, -1.80, -0.15%) slipped 2.3 points to 1,180.5. Nasdaq 100 futures (NDZ10 2,104, -4.50, -0.21%) fell 3.25 points to 2,105.25.
Markets appear set for “a little bit of consolidation from what’s been a decent rally in the last few days,” said Heino Ruland, strategist at Ruland Research.
Concerns about foreclosure problems at U.S. banks continue to cast a cloud over the financial sector, Ruland said, while disappointing results from the investment-banking arm of Swiss banking giant UBS AG (CH:UBSN 16.71, -0.93, -5.27%) (UBS 17.92, -0.01, -0.06%) did nothing to help the tone.
Shares of UBS, which saw its overall profit top forecasts, fell more than 5% on the SIX Swiss Exchange. Read about UBS's results.
Investors will be watching Texas Instruments (TXN 28.98, +0.32, +1.12%) , which said after Monday’s closing bell that it expects fourth-quarter revenue to decline from third-quarter levels.
Drugmaker Amgen (AMGN 57.95, +0.40, +0.70%) late Monday reaffirmed its outlook for 2010 adjusted earnings at the lower end of the range of $5.05 to $5.25 a share, with revenue “slightly below” $15.1 billion.
Chemicals giant DuPont (DD 47.70, +0.87, +1.86%) and Ford Motor Co. (F 14.15, +0.20, +1.43%) are expected to report earnings Tuesday before the market opens.
Tech firms Lexmark International (LXK 47.72, +0.80, +1.71%) , Unisys (UIS 31.20, +0.42, +1.36%) and Tellabs (TLAB 8.06, +0.22, +2.81%) are also expected to report ahead of the bell.
On the economic front, data on consumer confidence for October are due at 10 a.m. Eastern time.
European stocks were mostly lower, dragged down by UBS. Read Europe Markets for more.
U.S. stocks gained ground Monday, extending October gains, as investors remained focused on prospects for additional monetary easing by the Federal Reserve at its November meeting. A weekend gathering of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 nations failed to stem the decline of the U.S. dollar, feeding risk appetite and boosting equities and commodities.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA 11,164, +31.49, +0.28%) closed Monday with a gain of 31.49 points at 11,164.05.
The dollar was lower versus the euro but gained ground on the Japanese yen. The European single currency (EURUSD 1.3950, -0.0016, -0.1146%) rose 0.1% against the greenback to trade at $1.3939. The dollar rose 0.3% against the Japanese yen (USDYEN 81.0700, +0.3000, +0.3715%) to trade at ¥81.07.
The British pound rose 1.2% to $1.5885 after data showed that U.K. gross domestic product grew a stronger-than-expected 0.8% in the third quarter.
Gold futures fell $3.30 to trade at $1,335.60 an ounce in electronic dealings. Oil futures slipped 29 cents to trade at $82.23 a barrel.
