Econo-rama for Wall Street

Futures point to tough start for Wall Street as investors await readings on spending, manufacturing.

September 1, 2005: 6:36 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks looked set for rocky start Thursday but that could change as investors await a slew of economic reports due early this morning.

S&P and Nasdaq futures edged lower in the early going, indicating a weak start for stocks. Stocks managed to rally Wednesday as oil prices fell after the government said it would tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and lend oil to refiners hurt by Hurricane Katrina.

Oil prices climbed higher overnight, though. There are concerns that if the price of oil results in gasoline prices as high as $4 a gallon, the consumer may pull back on spending, which would have a negative effect on the overall economy. For more on the effects of Katrina, click here.
The October light crude futures contract gained 36 cents to $69.30 a barrel in electronic trading, while October Brent rose 61 cents to $67.63 in London.

Thursday's a busy day for economic news with readings due on personal income and spending for July. Economists expect personal incomes rose 0.5 percent in July after a similar increase in June. Personal spending, despite fairly high oil prices in July, is actually expected to climb to 1 percent after rising 0.8 percent.

The August read on manufacturing from the Institute for Supply Management is also due with economists expecting the reading to climb to 57 from 56.6. Any reading over 50 points to expansion in manufacturing.

And truck and auto sales for August are expected to fall from the prior month. Economists see car and light truck sales sinking to an annual rate of about 14.1 million from July's torrid pace of 17 million, which was boosted by automakers' offer of employee discounts to everyone.

Wednesday's drop in oil prices and subsequent rally in the U.S. stock market bolstered foreign markets.

Major markets in Asia closed higher Thursday with Tokyo stocks closing at a four-year high. European markets were also higher in early trading.

Treasury bond prices dropped, raising the yield on the 10-year treasury to 4.04 percent from the 4.01 percent level late Wednesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The dollar was little changed against on the euro and the yen.

In corporate news, Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis (Research) offered $4.5 billion to gain full control of U.S. vaccines maker Chiron (Research). The company already owns just over 42 percent of Chiron.

Porque será que todas as notícias insistem na existência de uma correlação negativa entre o preço do petróleo e a evolução das bolsas? 

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