U.S. Stocks Set to Open Lower

albena
27 Apr, 2005
New York City

Tokyo stocks tumbled after slow-moving U.S. stocks and a cheerless outlook from the major European chipmaker Infineon Technologies AG convinced some investors to sell tech and semiconductor issues.

The broader TOPIX dropped 1.01 points, or 0.09%, to finish Wednesday's trading at 1,130.30. The Nikkei Stock Average declined 30.41 points, or 0.28%, to close at 11,005.42 points.

Friday will mark the beginning of the ""Golden Week."" – a string of public holidays, so Japanese stock markets will be closed on Friday, then again on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week.

The dollar gained against the euro and the British pound Wednesday following much better-than-expected U.S. new home sales data and ahead of key U.S. and Japanese data due this week.

The dollar was trading at 106.18 yen at 5 p.m. Wednesday, up 0.28 yen from late Tuesday in Tokyo and also above the 105.97 yen it bought in New York later that day. The dollar traded between 106.06 yen and 106.40 yen in Tokyo.

The euro dropped to $1.2917 late Wednesday afternoon from $1.2983 late Tuesday and to 137.24 yen from 137.48 yen.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average ended down 91.34, or 0.9%, to 10,151.13 on Tuesday. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 23.34 points at 1,927.44.

European shares slid Wednesday as chip stocks tumbled on poor results from STMicroelectronics NV and the gloomy outlook from industrial conglomerate Siemens AG.

Germany's DAX 30 index fell 0.4% to 4,216, while France's CAC 40 index slipped 0.5% to 3,975.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index shed 0.3% to 4,829.

S&P 500 futures eased 1.6 points at 1,152 and Nasdaq 100 futures slid 4 points at 1,425.

Crude oil futures slipped 17 cents lower to $54.03 a barrel.

U.S. stock futures point to a lower market open on Wednesday, weighed down by disappointing earnings from online retailer Amazon.com Inc.