Before the bell: Futures lower ahead of GDP data; as earnings come in

Posted Feb 28th 2008 7:39AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Before the Bell, Earnings Reports, Dell (DELL), XM Satellite Radio (XMSR), Market Matters, Sprint Nextel Corp (S), Sears Holdings (SHLD), Amer Intl Group (AIG), Economic Data, Federal Reserve

U.S. stock futures were lower this morning, ahead of economic activity data and as Federal Reserve chairman Bernanke testifies before Congress for the second day. Several large-cap companies are also reporting earnings today and could help sway sentiment on the Street.

On Wednesday, stocks finished the session mixed. Concerns about the economy were not easily alleviated by

the Federal Reserve signaling more rate cuts. The Dow industrials ended up 9 points, or 0.07%, the S&P 500 was down 1 point, or 0.09%, and the Nasdaq composite added 8 points, or 0.37%.

More economic data will be released today and remain in focus:

At 8:30 a.m. EST, the latest reading of gross domestic product for the fourth-quarter is due. Analysts are expecting the data to show an annual growth rate of 0.8%, up from the initial estimate of 0.6%.
At the same time, weekly initial jobless claims will be reported.

Overseas, stocks mostly fell in Asia and Europe.

In corporate news, several companies are reporting results today including Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), which is expected to post a fourth-quarter profit of 36 cents a share, American International Group (NYSE: AIG), which is expected to post earnings of 69 cents a share, XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: XMSR), which is expected to post a loss of 65 cents a share in the fourth-quarter and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE), which is expected to post a large loss.

Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD) said that fourth-quarter profit tumbled 48% to $426 million, or $3.17 per share, due to poor performance at its Kmart and U.S. Sears stores hit by worsening economic conditions. Revenue slipped to $15.07 billion from $16.18 billion. Analysts expected profit of $3.10 per share on higher revenue of $15.26 billion.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) says it swung to a huge fourth-quarter loss due to a writedown of the remaining value of its 2005 purchase of Nextel Communications Inc. Not including the writedown, the company said it would have earned 21 cents per share, beating estimates of 18 cents per share. Revenue during the quarter slipped 6% to $9.8 billion.

Tags: aig, dell, featured, fre, s, shld, xmsr