Before the bell: Futures decline; MS posts earnings

Posted Mar 19th 2008 7:53AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Before the Bell, Earnings Reports, Market Matters, Federal Natl Mtge (FNM), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), NIKE, Inc'B' (NKE), Lehman Br Holdings (LEH), Initial Public Offerings, Federal Reserve

Naturally, a rally like the one we've seen Tuesday -- spurred by a Federal Reserve rate cut -- can't go one, and today stock futures are indicating stocks may start the session with declines.

On Tuesday, the Dow industrials rose 420 points, or 3.5%, the S&P 500 added 54 points, or 4.2% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 91 points, or 4.2% after Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) beat expectations when they reported earnings (despite reporting lower earnings), providing some relief after the collapse of Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC). The Fed's rate cut of three-quarters of a percentage point also helped lift market sentiment.

Today, however, the same concerns are continuing to plauge the market, about the credit crisis and the mortgage sector problems. Without much economic data, investors will revert back to focusing on these problems as the dollar continued its fall against the euro, erasing most of yesterday's gains, "on speculation the worst U.S. housing slump in a quarter of a century will swell credit-market losses."

Also in focus today will be oil prices as the weekly inventories report will be released at 10:30 a.m. EDT. Oil prices fell ahead of the report to around $108.50 a barrel.

Overseas, while Asian markets closed with strong gains following the performance of U.S. markets, European stocks are declining by midday.

Important to note today are Morgan Stanley, mortgage finance firms and Visa:
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) followed the footsteps of Goldman and Lehman as it just posted a profit of $1.55 billion, or $1.45 per share, down from $2.67 billion, or $2.17 per share, last year. The results were above analysts' expectations of $1.03 per share. MS shares are climbing 6.9% in premarket trading.

Nike (NYSE: NKE) will also report its latest financial results after the closing bell.

Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) also are in the spotlight as The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversightmay announced a plan to ease capital requirements on the two firms. This will free up billions of dollars that would be used to help home owners refinance mortgages on the brink of default.

Meanwhile, Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) sold 406 million shares at $44 apiece late Tuesday to raise nearly $18 billion, completing the most lucrative initial public offering in U.S. history.

Tags: featured, fnm, fre, gs, ipo, leh, ms, nke, v, visa