Stock futures were trading down as Fannie Mae posted its fourth straight quarterly loss. Investors were awaiting word from a government report on worker productivity to see if there is any sign of an economic rebound. Those figures, though, proved disappointing.Bloomberg News reported that worker productivity in the U.S. grew at a lower-than-expected rate in the second quarter as employers cut jobs to weather the jump in raw-material expenses. "Employers eliminated 165,000 jobs from April through June to shore up profits, and still managed to get more output with fewer workers," the news service says. "Gains in productivity help lower inflation and bolster the Federal Reserve's forecast that prices will moderate."
Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) posted its fourth straight quarterly loss and slashed its dividend. The second-quarter net loss was $2.3 billion, or $2.54 a share. Excluding one-time items, the loss was $2.51 a share, compared with the 72-cent average estimate of 10 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Shares tumbled more than 12% in pre-market trading.
MBIA (NYSE: MBI) swung to a profit of $1.7 billion, or $7.14 a share, on $3.32 billion in unrealized hedging gains, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Airbus are being hit with delays for their ultra-modern new aircraft by shortages of mundane parts such as seats and galleys, according to The Wall Street Journal. "The problem stems from small suppliers that have overcommitted to build equipment and didn't gear up production fast enough to deliver it," the paper said.
Higher commodities prices are hurting the bottom line of food companies such as Sara Lee (NYSE:SLE) and Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN). Eventually, those costs will be born by consumers, according to the Journal. Meanwhile, McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD) shares are called higher on better-than-expected July same-store sales. Hormel Foods Corp. (NYSE: HRL) fell on lackluster earnings.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s (NYSE: WMT) run as the best performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average may come to an end because of slowing sales at the world's largest retail company, according to Bloomberg News.
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