Paint the Table

[Foxlette]

did I steal that close of yours? [sly smile]

a morning warm up for you:

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Shares are set to open close to the unchanged mark on Wednesday after ending on the downside Tuesday, interrupting a two-day winning streak.

March S&P 500 futures rose 1.50 points, or 0.1 percent, and were trading 1.40 points above fair value, according to HL Camp & Co. And Nasdaq futures rose 6.50 points, or 0.4 percent and were trading right around fair value.

Among shares trading before the opening bell, Applied Materials (NasdaqNM: AMAT - news) rose around 1 percent. The chip equipment behemoth reported late Tuesday a fourth-quarter profit from operations that surpassed the Wall Street consensus estimate.

Nortel Networks (NYSE: NT - news) , meanwhile, traded around flat levels in the pre-open following Tuesday's deep decline that took down the entire fiber-optic sector.

Treasury focus
Government bonds traded a touch lower out of the gate. The 10-year Treasury note was off 1/32 to yield 4.98 percent while the 30-year government bond erased 2/32 to yield 5.46 percent.

The week's marquee economic report is due out on Wednesday: January retail sales are seen increasing 0.1 percent overall and 0.4 percent excluding autos, according to economists polled by CBS.MarketWatch.com.

In the currency sector, the dollar dipped 0.2 percent to 132.33 yen while the euro erased 0.3 percent to 87.45 cents.

Moody's Investors Service said Japan's credit rating may be cut as much as two notches. The rating agency cited fears over deflation as well as the mounting debt held by the government.