BNP Paribas Drag U.S. Stock Futures

Elena
09 Aug, 2007
New York City

.S. stock futures pointed steeply lower in pre-market trading Thursday, as credit market worries resurfaced after French bank BNP Paribas suspended three funds, blaming a lack of liquidity in the U.S. subprime mortgage market. S&P 500 futures lost 15.90 points at 1,488.00 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 13 points at 1,986.25. Dow industrial futures gave up 115 points.

[R]09:00AM U.S. stock futures indicated a steeply lower start, due to BNP Paribas and renewed credit worries.[/R]

U.S. stock futures pointed steeply lower in pre-market trading Thursday, as credit market worries resurfaced after French bank BNP Paribas suspended three funds, blaming a lack of liquidity in the U.S. subprime mortgage market.

After market close Wednesday, AIG ((AIG)) posted stronger-than-forecast Q2 profit but also added that one of its units was hit by the continuing weakness in the U.S. housing market. News Corp. ((NWS)) reported Q4 profit increase, led by higher revenue and income at its cable networks.

The latest same-store sales data also attracted investor attention. Discounters and children''s retailers were expected to posted the strongest July retail sales, while teen retailers are likely to report weak results.

Wal-Mart Stores ((WMT)) said its July same-store sales rose 1.9%, exceeding forecast of an increase by 1.5%. The stock dropped 1.3% in pre-market trading. Among other discount retailers Costco ((COST)) said same-store sales rose 7%, beating estimates of 5.5%. Company’s shares declined 1.8% in the pre-open. At the same time Stage Stores ((SSI)) said its same-store sales fell 1.7%, missing expectations for a 0.7% rise.

In the economic news front, initial jobless claims advanced 7,000 to 316,000, reaching the highest level since June 30. S&P 500 futures lost 15.90 points at 1,488.00 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 13 points at 1,986.25. Dow industrial futures gave up 115 points.


[R]7:00AM New York, 8:00PM Tokyo – Market indexes in Tokyo climb for the third day tracking rises in New York. Strong earnings reports have lifted market sentiment.[/R]

Nikkei 225 index closed up 141.32 or 0.83% to 17,170.60 at close on strength in export sensitive stocks. Topix index increased 14.77 or 0.9% to close at 1,683.81. The trading on the first section of the exchange was heavy with 5.3 trillion yen value.

Of the 225 stocks in the index, 144 advanced, 79 declined, and 2 were unchanged.
Oki Electric led the index stocks with a gain of 11.5% followed by 10.5% rise in Fast Retailing, and 8% surge in Heiwa Real Estate and Toto Ltd. Nippon Soda led the decliners with a loss of 7.35% followed by 7% fall in Tosho Corporation, 6% decline in Kyowa Hakko, Nisshin Oil, and Meiji Dairies.

Arabic Oil Company known as AOC lifted its annual earnings forecast to 8 billion, up 60% from a year ago.

Weaker yen helped export sensitive stocks. Trend Micro surged 7% for the third day in a row after revising sales and earnings forecast for the current quarter. Citizen Holdings jumped 5% and Casio Computer surged 7%. Toshiba jumped 2.3%, Canon gained 1%, and Sony added 0.8%.

Real estate companies led the advancing stocks with 8.5% gain in Heiwa Real Estate, 7.3% gain in Mitsubishi UFJ, and 4.6% increase in Mitsui Sumitomo.

Yahoo Japan jumped 5.2%. The news report in the local press lifted Inpex Holdings 1.9%. The company is exploring LNG import terminal project in the northern Japan.

NTN Corp, Nippon Express, Japan Tobacco, and Kyocera fell 4% in the trading today.

Japan Tobacco reported its first quarter sales of 1.2 trillion yen, a decline of 5.4% from a year ago and net income fell 15.2% to 64.4 billion yen. Domestic sales fell 13% but international sales rose 25.3% limiting the net profit decline. The company revised its sales forecast for the year to 6.41 trillion yen from 4.89 trillion yen and net income was revised to 256 billion yen from 186 billion yen.

Fast Retailing soared 11% after the news that the company plans to drop its bid for the U.S. based retailer Barneys New York.

eAccess reported its earnings for the quarter ending in June 30. The earnings rose to 1,5 billion yen from 0.969 billion yen. Revenue jumped to 15 billion yen from 14.29 billion yen. The stocks surged 8% on the news.