Wall Street heads to a mixed open
Wall Street headed for a mixed open Thursday, with investors worried about a deep economic slump after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. trimmed its full-year earnings guidance. The nation's largest retail chain reported third-quarter results that surpassed analysts' expectations. But it said it expects full-year earnings per share to come in between $3.42 and $3.46 compared to its previous forecast of $3.43 to $3.50.
Investors also were wary after Intel Corp. cut more than $1 billion from its sales forecast, providing more evidence that technology companies are in for a beating because of the economy. The world's biggest maker of PC microprocessors late Wednesday blamed a clampdown on spending for reducing demand for its chips.
A stream of negative corporate news sent stocks lower in the first three days of this week. Thursday will bring what's expected to be worrisome economic data - a report that's likely to show unemployment benefits rose slightly last week. The Labor Department's tally of initial jobless benefit claims for the week ending Nov. 8 is expected to rise by 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted level of 484,000, according to a survey of Wall Street economists by Thomson Reuters.
The data is scheduled to be released Thursday at 8:30 a.m. EST.
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Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 20, or 0.24 percent, to 8,300 about 90 minutes before the opening. Standard & Poor's 500 futures rose 6.00, or 0.70 percent, to 859.50. But the Nasdaq 100 index futures stumbled 3.00, or 0.26 percent, to 1,160.50.
On Wednesday, stocks fell as investors pored through dismal earnings reports and news that the government won't buy banks' soured mortgage assets after all. The Dow Jones industrials dropped 411.30 points, and all the major indexes lost more than 4 percent.
The stock market has lost about $1 trillion over the past three days, according to the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 index, which reflects the value of nearly all U.S. stocks.
Government bond prices were slightly lower Thursday. The three-month Treasury bill's yield rose to 0.14 percent from 0.13 percent late Wednesday, and the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.69 percent from 3.67 percent late Wednesday. Higher yields indicate lower demand.
Meanwhile, oil prices slid amid fears of a severe global downturn that will pulverize demand for crude. A barrel of light sweet crude was down 57 cents to $56.73 a barrel, after falling to as low as $54.67, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In corporate news, struggling casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp. will lay off as many as 11,000 workers after a cash crunch forced the company to halt construction on multibillion dollar projects in the Chinese gambling city, a top executive said Thursday.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei closed down 5.25 percent and Hong Kong Hang Seng fell 5.15 percent. In European trading, London's FTSE 100 was down 1.03 percent, Germany's DAX rose 0.55 percent, and France's CAC-40 added 0.33 percent.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)