Before the bell: Stocks to start lower; CSCO, TM, NWS, COST, WMT, GS ...

U.S. stock futures fell Thursday morning as investors continued to focus on the grim situation of the economy, awaiting today's retail sales data from retailers today and Friday's employment numbers. Retail sales are expected to drop 0.3%, or 2.3% excluding Wal-Mart. Today, also, weekly initial claims will be released ahead of the bell as well as preliminary productivity number for Q3. Cisco's lowered sales outlook only underscored the economic picture. Global stocks plunged, but after the Bank of England took drastic measure with 1.5 percentage points rate cut to 3%, markets recovered somewhat. The European Central Bank cut rates by half a point. Meanwhile, oil declined below $65 a barrel.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) reported financial results Wedensday after the close. While the world's largest maker of computer networking gear posted solid results that even Wall Street estimates, it warned that orders fell off abruptly in October and it projected a large fall in sales in the current quarter. Shares are down 5.3% in pre-market trading.

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM), the automaker touted as the one able to weather the storm, has actually slashed its annual earnings forecast Thursday to less than a third of what it was the previous fiscal year due to the American economic slowdown and the yen strenght. Its July-September quarter net profit plunged 69% to 139.8 billion yen ($1.4 billion). Toyota shares are down over 10% in pre-market trading.