bulls test the waters
Stock futures up after mixed post-Fed performance
Retail sales data ahead; American International Group may fall
Discuss By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch Last Update: 7:53 AM ET May 11, 2006
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- With the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision out of the way, markets on Thursday returned to the familiar trend of bidding up commodity prices, with stock futures higher as well after last session's mixed performance.
S&P 500 futures rose 1.1 points at 1,328.90 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 4.5 points at 1,705.25. The Dow industrials ended higher on Wednesday, while the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 ended lower, following the Fed decision to raise rates by a quarter point as expected and its stressing that further rate moves will be made on the basis of incoming data. On Thursday, the key data will be the release of retail sales, expected to grow 0.8% in April, according to economists polled by MarketWatch. Other surveys point to a 0.7% rise.
Weekly jobless claims and March inventories data also are due for release. The euro weakened against the U.S. dollar following disappointing first-quarter GDP data from Germany, Europe's largest economy, though a better-than-forecast results from Italy helped to offset the impact. See story.
The dollar also edged higher against the yen. Crude-oil futures rose 40 cents to $72.53 a barrel, while gold futures rose $4.90 to $710.60 an ounce. See crude-oil story.
Of companies expected to see action on Thursday, Dow industrials component American International Group (AIG : American International Group, Inc. News , chart, profile, more Last: 66.54+0.33+0.50%
4:15am 05/11/2006
Delayed quote dataAdd to portfolio Analyst Create alertInsider Discuss Financials Sponsored by: 66.54, +0.33, +0.5%) may see pressure after the world's top insurer said its first-quarter profit fell 16%. The company's foreign life insurance business outweighed a strong performance in property and casualty. News Corp. (NWS : news corp cl b News , chart, profile, more Last: 19.12+0.11+0.58%
4:15am 05/11/2006
Delayed quote dataAdd to portfolio Analyst Create alertInsider Discuss Financials Sponsored by: 19.12, +0.11, +0.6%) may advance after the media conglomerate's profit more than doubled, led by its cable-network operations. BSkyB (BSY : British Sky Broadcasting Group plc News , chart, profile, more Last: 38.93-0.42-1.07%
4:06am 05/11/2006
Delayed quote dataAdd to portfolio Analyst Create alertInsider Discuss Financials Sponsored by: 38.93, -0.42, -1.1%) , the U.K. satellite operator run by Rupert Murdoch's son James and owned partly by News Corp, also advanced in London trade, benefiting from a Morgan Stanley upgrade. News Corp rival Viacom (VIA : viacom inc new cl a News , chart, profile, more Last: 39.62-0.11-0.28%
4:15am 05/11/2006
Delayed quote dataAdd to portfolio Analyst Create alertInsider Discuss Financials Sponsored by: 39.62, -0.11, -0.3%) reported a 9% profit decline on rising interest expenses, while revenue grew 12% on its cable networks and entertainment divisions. Nonetheless, the profit decline wasn't as steep as analysts had forecasted. See story. JDS Uniphase (JDSU : jds uniphase corp com News , chart, profile, more Last: 3.39-0.04-1.17%
8:00am 05/11/2006
Delayed quote dataAdd to portfolio Analyst Create alertInsider Discuss Financials Sponsored by: 3.39, -0.04, -1.2%) , the fiber optics product maker, declined 3% in pre-open moves after planning to sell $375 million in bonds that can convert into shares. Movie Gallery (MOVI : Movie Gallery Inc News , chart, profile, more Last: 3.16-0.06-1.86%
8:00am 05/11/2006
Delayed quote dataAdd to portfolio Analyst Create alertInsider Discuss Financials Sponsored by: 3.16, -0.06, -1.9%) surged over 50% in pre-open trade after it said it planned to restructure leases at more than 1,100 stores, to close stores as conditions warrant, to considering selling assets and to cut capital spending. The company's earnings doubled as well. Overseas, Toyota Motor's (TM : toyota motor corp sp adr rep2com News , chart, profile, more Last: 120.85-0.96-0.79%
4:15am 05/11/2006
Delayed quote dataAdd to portfolio Analyst Create alertInsider Discuss Financials Sponsored by: 120.85, -0.96, -0.8%) prediction of a profit decline hurt the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo, while European stock markets advanced on the back of commodity sector gains, offsetting a decline in shares of Deutsche Telekom (DT : deutsche telekom ag sponsored adr News , chart, profile, more Last: 17.44-0.12-0.68%
4:02am 05/11/2006
Delayed quote dataAdd to portfolio Analyst Create alertInsider Discuss Financials Sponsored by: 17.44, -0.12, -0.7%) after the company's 10% profit rise was below market expectations.
DOW Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Not Held
A personalised tool to help users track selected stocks. Delivering real-time notifications on price updates, announcements, and performance stats on each to help make informed investment decisions.
(20min delay)