time to be v cautious ahead of fed meet tonite, page-89

Stock futures rise before housing report
Durable goods orders fall slightly less than expected. Wall Street prepares for data on new-home sales. Gold hits $1,300 an ounce. HSBC's CEO plans to step down.
Posted by TheStreet Staff on Friday, September 24, 2010 7:55 AM
By Melinda Peer, TheStreet



Updated at 8:47 a.m. ET



Stock futures pointed to a higher open Friday after durable goods orders fell slightly less than expected and before the government's report on new-home sales.



Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) were up by 99 points at 10,705 and were 110 points above fair value. S&P 500 ($INX) futures were up by 11 points at 1,132 and were 12 points above fair value, while futures for the Nasdaq ($COMPX) were rising by 19 points and were 20 points above fair value.



The Department of Commerce said durable goods orders declined 1.3% in August after rising 0.7% in the previous month. The decline was slightly less than the 1.4% drop anticipated by economists, according to Briefing.com. Excluding transportation, orders grew 2% after slumping 3.7% in July. Analysts were expecting only a 0.5% bump.

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