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Dow, Nasdaq Set to Open Lower

Dow, Nasdaq Set to Open Lower
Wednesday October 19, 7:06 am ET
Dow, Nasdaq Set to Open Lower As Inflation Concerns Reverberate Around Stock Markets

LONDON (AP) -- Stock market futures dropped Wednesday as inflation and rising bond-yield concerns reverberated around international stock markets and Intel's soft revenue outlook depressed the technology sector.

Dow Jones futures were recently down 46 points, S&P 500 futures slipped 4.5 points and Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 11 points.

Overseas, the Nikkei 225 fell 1.7 percent and the U.K. FTSE 100 dipped 1.2 percent.

On Tuesday, the biggest monthly rise in producer prices in 31 years pulled Dow industrials down by 63 points at 10,285, Nasdaq Composite down 14 points at 2,056 and the S&P 500 down 12 points at 1,178.

Anais Faraj, a strategist at Nomura Securities, said the market decline is down to healthy profit taking after an unexpectedly strong third quarter.

"It could be the first quarter 2006 correction come early," he said.

Intel posted third-quarter earnings a touch below consensus predictions, and forecast fourth-quarter revenue in the range of $10.2 billion to $10.8 billion. Analysts are targeting sales of $10.6 billion.

"It looks like a portion of fourth-quarter revenue was pulled into the third quarter," said Merrill Lynch analyst Joseph Osha, who kept a buy rating on the stock.

The news pressured overseas technology players such as Philips Electronics and STMicroelectronics.

On Wednesday, Bank of America Corp. said third-quarter earnings rose 9.6 percent as mortgage banking, credit cards and service fees drove a 16 percent gain in revenue. The Charlotte banking giant said net income rose to $4.13 billion, or $1.02 a share, from $3.76 billion, or 91 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Quarterly revenue rose 16 percent to $14.81 billion from $12.76 billion.

The dollar rose on both the euro and the yen in European trade.

Dow components JP Morgan Chase & Co., Altria, SBC Communications and Honeywell International will feature in another busy session of earnings release.


LINK: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/051019/wall_street.html?.v=2