US stock futures flat as Ford, Lehman news awaited

NEW YORK - US stock futures pointed to a muted start on Wall Street on Wednesday as investors backed off Tuesday’s rally and oil prices hovered around $64 a barrel after falling the previous session, easing inflation concerns.

By (Reuters)

Published: Wed 13 Sep 2006, 6:39 PM

Last updated: Sat 4 Apr 2015, 4:21 PM

Shares of Ford Motor Co. rose 2 percent in Europe as the automaker is expected to announce a major corporate restructuring that will lower white-collar costs by 30 percent and cut jobs and benefits, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.is due to give its third quarter report and investors may be expecting strong results after No. 3 US investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. posted stronger-than-expected results on Tuesday.

“Yesterday’s rally was sparked entirely by a precipitous drop-off in energy prices, but the market does have to take a second look at that because one of the reasons energy is falling off so much is coming from the demand side and if the demand appears to be slack globally, that’s not good for the global economy,” said Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co. in Boston.

Standard & Poor’s 500 futures were down 1.7 points, but above fair value, a mathematical formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract.

Dow Jones industrial average futures were down 11 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 1 point.

In electronic trading US crude for October delivery was up 34 cents at $64.10 a barrel, but it has fallen more than $14 from its July high suggesting to investors that lower energy costs could boost consumer spending and lift corporate profits.

IntercontinentalExchange may be in focus as the New York Post reported The New York Board of Trade is close to merging with the electronic commodities futures market.

Helping Nasdaq futures, shares of Apple Computer Inc. were trading up 1.1 percent in Europe, as the company said it will begin selling movie downloads in its iTunes online music store and that it plans to ship a device in the first quarter of 2007 to let consumers stream digital entertainment from the Web to home entertainment systems.

No major economic reports are due on Wednesday, but weekly oil inventory data will be released at 10:30 a.m. (1430 GMT).

US stocks rose the most in about a month on Tuesday, pushing the Dow Jones industrial average to just 1.2 percent below its high for the year in early May, when it came within 80 points of its record.