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Stocked futures were lower this morning indicating a negative start for U.S. stocks Wednesday as investors' worries over the economy continued.Yesterday, U.S. stocks were indicating at this time the market could rally significantly. While stocks indeed ended with gains, the session was quite choppy. Despite a good Goldman Sachs reports, investors ended up punishing the stock after the CEO said in the conference call mid-morning, he expects challenges ahead. Best Buy and Adobe Systems, however, traded higher after their quarterly reports. The Dow industrials rose 65 points, or 0.5%, the S&P 500 ended 9 points,, or 06.63%, higher and the Nasdaq Composite tacked on 21 points, or 0.84%.
While yesterday, the Federal Reserve released a plan to help protect borrowers from shady lending practices (a plan many said should have been implemented at least a year ago), today the Fed will release the results from itss first-ever $20 billion of cash "term auction facility." Investors and the Fed would like to know if the steps taken by the central bank are helping in alleviating the credit crunch faced by banks.
While no economic data is due for release from the government, RealtyTrac reported that November foreclosures were up nearly 68% from a year ago, though down 10% from October.
Also to be watched today is oil as weekly crude inventories are to be released. Oil prices rose Wednesday ahead of the data release, which is expected to show crude stockpiles fell for the fifth straight week.
Overseas, Asian markets closed mixed. In Europe, where several developments lately point to slower growth, as well as consumer confidence declining, stocks have been declining by midday.
After Goldman Sachs's (NYSE: GS) solid results Tuesday, could Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) -- scheduled to report quarterly results before the opening bell this morning -- follow in its footsteps?
Also reporting today after the close are Nike (NYSE: NKE), General Mills (NYSE: GIS) -- preview -- and Oracle Systems (NASDAQ: ORCL).
Several companies reported after the close Tuesday, most notably Palm (NASDAQ: PALM), whose results caused investors to send stock down 10% in after hours trading. Palm reported a loss for its second fiscal quarter. So far this morning, the stock is down 8% in premarket trading.
Also likely to see pressure is Hovnanian (NYSE: HOV), which after reporting its results is down nearly 8.7% in premarket trading.
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