Before the bell: Futures higher ahead of housing, jobless data

Posted Nov 25th 2009 7:45AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Before the Bell, International Markets, Market Matters, Tiffany and Co (TIF), Economic Data, Deere and Co (DE), Oil, Housing, Federal Reserve

U.S. stock futures advanced Wednesday morning ahead of what is going to be a busy day full of economic reports before Thanksgiving. While investor sentiment is still upbeat following the Federal Reserve minutes and optimism about the economy, trading could be choppy today given the market is closed tomorrow. The market will reopen Friday for a short day.

U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday on lackluster economic data, namely the GDP revision downward. However, the losses eased after the FOMC minutes and the Fed raised its growth expectations for 2010.

The economic docket is full today:

At 8:30 a.m. Eastern, weekly initial and continuing jobless claims are due out, a day early than usual. The trend is expected to continue to show an easing in the number of job losses and overall claims.
At the same time, October data for durable goods will be reported. Economists expect orders to have increased, but at a lower rate than the month before.
Still at 8:30, personal income and consumption for October will be reported. Income is expected to have ticked up 0.1% after remaining unchanged in September. Spending may have grown 0.5% after declining 0.5% in the prior month.
At 9:55 a.m., the November University of Michigan consumer survey will be released and is expected to have ticked up.
Finally, at 10:00 a.m., new home sales data for October will be out. Economists expect to see a 2% increase in sales.

Also today, Deere & Co (DE) and Tiffany & Co (TIF) are reporting quarterly financial results.

Overseas, world stock markets rose Wednesday with sentiment boosted by the Fed's minutes that indicated that interest rates will remain at super-low levels for a while yet. It also helped that the U.K. economy shrank less than previously estimated in the third quarter as consumer spending stopped falling and the service industries slump eased.

Meanwhile, the dollar slid to a ten-month low against the yen after the central bank said the currency's decline had been "orderly." The dollar index fell 0.5%.

Oil prices rose to $76.34 a barrel on Globex ahead of weekly inventory supplies data for petroleum and natural-gas due out at 10:30 a.m. from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Tags: featured