Stocks move toward lower open
U.S. stocks headed toward a moderately lower opening Tuesday ahead of a profit report from Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
Stocks finished little changed Monday as investors awaited economic data on inflation due later this week. After a pullback last week and a partial recovery Friday, investors are looking to earnings and economic data to help determine whether they should embrace a bearish or bullish stance.
Lehman is the first of the big Wall Street investment firms to release its fiscal second-quarter earnings. Bear Stearns Cos. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are expected to report later in the week.
Dow Jones industrial futures expiring in September fell 26, or 0.19 percent, to 13,530, while Standard & Poor`s 500 index futures fell 3.40, or 0.22 percent, to 1,521.80. Nasdaq 100 index futures slipped 3.00, or 0.16 percent, to 1,927.50.
Bond yields, whose advance has at times unnerved stock market investors since last week, rose again Tuesday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note jumped to 5.21 percent from 5.16 percent late Monday.
Last week, investors regarded inflation levels that appeared stubbornly above the Federal Reserve`s comfort level as a sign that the central bank wouldn`t cut short-term interest rates. As yields move in the opposite direction as bond prices, market interest rates soared. The 10-year Treasury yield climbed above 5 percent for the first time since last summer.
The bond and stock markets could be expected to show volatility ahead of reports on inflation due later in the week. The Labor Department`s producer price index and the more closely watched consumer price index could help determine whether last week`s stock market pullback was justified.
Light, sweet crude fell 15 cents to $65.82 in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
On Tuesday, stocks overseas largely fell. Japan`s Nikkei stock average lost 0.41 percent. Britain`s FTSE 100 slipped 0.25 percent, Germany`s DAX index fell 0.48 percent, and France`s CAC-40 declined 0.44 percent. Stocks in China rose, with the often-volatile Shanghai Composite Index gaining 1.91 percent.
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