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Wall Street Set To Extend Slide Amid Conflicting Growth Signals(Alliance News Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) WASHINGTON (Alliance News) - Early indications suggest that Wall Street stocks may open Tuesday's session lower amid the release of mixed global economic data. Earlier in the global trading day, Asian stocks ended mixed after a report showed that Chinese manufacturing activity picked up slightly in September. At the same time, the European markets are seeing weakness, hurt by data showing a slowdown in the rate of expansion by the private sector of the region. The mood in the domestic markets may also be dictated by a couple of manufacturing reports, some Fed speeches scheduled for the day and a house prices report. At 6:15 am ET, the Dow futures are slipping 40 points, the S&P 500 futures are down 5.25 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures are receding 13.50 points. Global growth worries haunted traders on Monday, with US stocks retreating notably in the session. On the economic front, Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak on community banking at the St. Louis Fed conference at 8:20 am ET. Kansas City Fed President President Esther George will also speak at the St. Louis Fed conference at 8:30 am ET. St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard is scheduled to open the community banking conference and hold a press briefing at 9 am ET. The Federal House Finance Agency is due to release its house price index for July at 9 am ET. Economists expect the house price index to rise 0.4% month-over-month in July following the increase of same magnitude in June. Markit is scheduled to release flash estimate of its US manufacturing purchasing managers' index for September at 9:45 am ET. The consensus estimate calls for a small increase in the headline index to 58.1 in September from 58 in August. The Richmond Federal Reserve will release the results of its regional manufacturing index for September at 10 am ET. Economists expect the index to remain unchanged at 12. The Treasury is scheduled to release the results of its auction of 2-year notes at 1 pm ET. Esther George is also due to speak on the economy in Cheyenne, Wyoming at 9:15 pm ET. In corporate news, Adobe (ABBE) said it has acquired privately held developer of mobile software development kits Aviary in a bid to fast track creative cloud application development. Parkway Properties (PKY) announced that it has priced its previously announced public offering of 10 million shares at USD18.60 per share. The company expects to mobilize net proceeds of about USD178.1 million from the offering. Owens & Minor (OMI) signed an agreement to buy privately held surgical kitting company ArcRoyal, based in Ireland. The terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2014, was not disclosed. AAR Corp. (AIR), Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY), Copart (CPRT) and Steelcase (SCS) are among the companies due to release their quarterly results after the close of trading. The major Asian markets received some support from a positive Chinese manufacturing data and ended mostly higher but ended mixed for the session. The Australian, New Zealand, Singaporean and Chinese markets advanced, while the Indian, Indonesian, Malaysian, South Korean and Taiwanese markets moved to the downside. The Japanese market was closed for a public holiday. Australia, which exports most of its resources to commodity hungry China, was encouraged by a report showing a pick-up in manufacturing activity in September. The All Ordinaries ended up 47.90 points or 0.89% at 5,416. China's Shanghai Composite Index hovered above the unchanged line for much of the session and ended 15.23 points or 0.67% higher at 2,305. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index ended at 23,837, down 118.42 points or 0.49%. On the economic front, preliminary report released by HSBC and Markit Economics showed that manufacturing activity accelerated in September. The manufacturing purchasing managers' index rose to 50.2 in September from 50 in August. European stocks opened lower and have seen further downside since then, as private sector activity data came in below expectations. In corporate news, Philips announced plans to split into two companies, one focusing on the HealthTech and the other on Lighting solutions opportunities. Citing additional costs and weakness in markets, the company said it now expects adjusted EBITA for the second half of the year to be lower than in the year-ago period. Tesco announced that Alan Stewart, a former Marks & Spencer executive, will join as its CFO, effective today, earlier than the previously announced date of December 1. On the economic front, Markit's survey showed that private sector activity expanded at the slowest rate in 9 months. The composite purchasing managers' index eased to 52.3 in September from 52.5 in August, while the index was expected to remain unchanged. The manufacturing purchasing managers' index eased to 50.5 from 50.7 and the service sector purchasing managers' index declined 0.3 points to 52.8. Revised estimates released by French statistical office INSEE showed that the French GDP stagnated in the second quarter compared to the previous quarter. This was in line with the preliminary estimate. Meanwhile, a separate report showed that business climate in France weakened in September, with the corresponding business confidence index slipping 1 point to 91. The decline was in line with expectations. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX |