9:05am (EST)
We told you the market always looks ahead…
Futures are pointing towards a slightly lower as Wall Street gets nervous that the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates sooner than expected. The dollar jumped to a five-week high against the euro this morning, sending commodities prices tumbling as overseas markets were mixed.
Dow futures are down 30 to 10,370, S&P 500 futures are off 3 to 1,104 while the Nasdaq 100 futures are lower by 6 to 1,789 as we head to press.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will speak today before the Economic Club of Washington and you can bet Wall Street will be listening in. As the economy improves, The Street believes the Fed could start to raise rates and withdraw some of its support measures, which could reverse the dollar’s slide in recent weeks.
We have talked about the “dollar trade” and how it has been affecting the market. A lower dollar has led to a higher market as investors seek better returns from other higher-yielding assets. If the Fed were to raise rates, that would be a good sign that the economy is strengthening and the dollar trade could start working against the market.
Earnings for the week (quotes from Friday’s close):
Monday: Blyth (BTH, $34.90, up $1.80), Casey’s General Stores (CASY, $30.77, up $0.84), Focus Media Holding (FMCN, $14.59, up $0.43), Integral Systems (ISYS, $9.30, up $0.31), Krisp Kreme Doughnuts (KKD, $3.38, up $0.02), Kroger (KR, $22.50, up $0.26), Layne Christensen (LAYN, $26.11, up $0.27), ModusLink Global Solutions (MLNK, $8.33, up $0.41), Pep Boys (PBY, $8.80, up $0.24) and Resource America (REXI, $3.85, up $0.06).
Tuesday: AeroVironment (AVAV, $29.10, down $0.63), AutoZone (AZO, $152.08, up $0.68), Brown-Forman Corporation (BFB, $52.07, up $1.78), H&R Block (HRB, $20.22, up $0.01), Imperial Sugar (IPUS, $17.76, up $0.62), Talbots (TLB, $7.20, up $0.58), Toro (TTC, $40.91, up $0.18) and Vail Resorts (MTN, $40.20, up $0.92).
Wednesday: Analogic Corporation (ALOG, $38.98, up $0.08), Hooker Furniture (HOFT, $12.67, up $0.75), Lululemon Athletica (LULU, $27.03, up $1.11), Movado (MOV, $10.60, up $0.22), Pall Corp. (PLL, $32.23, up $0.72) and Men’s Wearhouse (MW, $21.64, up $1.13).
Thursday: BWAY Holding Company (BWY, $16.74, up $0.63), Ciena(CIEN, $12.58, up $0.47), Costco Wholesale (COST, $59.19, up $0.17), National Semiconductor (NSM, $15.45, up $0.05), Smithfield Foods (SFD, $16.27, up $0.47) and United Natural Foods (UNFI, $27.12, up $1.37).
Friday: None worth mentioning.
The consumer credit report for October will be released at 3:00pm today. Analysts expect consumer credit outstanding to fall $8.8 billion, following a $14.8B billion drop in September…
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