Stocks Mixed Ahead Of Data
Stocks appeared set to start mixed at
Monday’s open, while traders looked ahead to several key tech company reports
and a raft of economic data later this week.
The September S&P 500 futures
contract was up 0.40 points to 1472.10. Fair value stood at 1472.14, according
to HL Camp & Co., a program-trading outfit.
The Nasdaq futures contract was up 13
points to 3645.00, the Dow futures unchanged at 10,800.00.
Company News
Shares in Verizon Communications
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were set for a drop after negotiators for the telecom giant and two unions
failed to reach agreement in labor talks. Thousands of operators and technicians
are now on strike. Company and union reps are scheduled to resume negotiators at
mid-morning.
Northwest Airlines
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a record July load factor. The total amount of seats filled by paying passengers
flying the airline on all routes rose to 81.6% in July vs. 80% in July 1999.
Revenue passenger miles increased to 7.78 billion from 7.32 billion RPM a year
ago.
Citigroup
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Services
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e-commerce venture to streamline the payments process in business-to-business
transactions. The new company, FinancialSettlementMatrix.com, will connect
buyers and sellers in electronic marketplaces with credit, payment processing
other services. Other partners in the venture include bank holding company Wells
Fargo
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Financial terms were not disclosed.
Coming Soon
On Tuesday, the Labor Department will
release preliminary second-quarter productivity and labor cost data. In a
Reuters survey, economists in predicted productivity rose 4.3% in the second
quarter vs. 2.4% in the first three months of the year.
The market will face several key
economic reports later this week — the U.S. Beige Book report on
Wednesday followed by the producer price index and retail sales data on
Friday. A raft of quarterly reports are due this week from such bellwether tech
companies as Cisco Systems
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Materials
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is scheduled to report on Wednesday.
Overseas
Britain’s FTSE 100 were higher
at midsession on Monday, led by oil and gas stocks. Most U.S. shares were
higher on light volume.