Futuros EUA em terreno negativo: Wall Street treading oil

[notiCIas]

Wall Street treading oil

Stock futures point to a lower open ahead of mid-morning report on U.S. fuel inventories that could set direction for markets.

May 3, 2006: 7:28 AM EDT


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Stocks investors will be watching oil prices and the weekly report on U.S. fuel supplies looking for direction Wednesday

U.S. stock futures were down slightly in early trading, as a comparison to fair value pointed to a lower open for U.S. markets, ahead of the 10:30 a.m. ET report from the U.S. Energy Department on fuel and oil inventories.

Oil prices, which rallied Tuesday ahead of that report, were slightly higher again Wednesday ahead of the report.

The June light crude futures contract for NYMEX was 12 cents to $74.73 in electronic trading, while the June contract for Brent crude gained 12 cents to $74.76.

"We're being held hostage to what we think the Fed is going to do and what's happening with energy prices, even though we're getting pretty good earnings numbers," said Art Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co. "Today it's oil's turn to take center stage."

Major markets in Asia closed slightly higher Wednesday, although Japanese markets were closed for a holiday. Major European markets were mixed in early trading.

Treasury prices were lower changed, lifting the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 5.12 percent from the 5.11 percent level reached late Tuesday. The dollar was higher against the yen but off against the euro.

The nation's No. 1 consumer products maker Procter & Gamble (Research) reported better than expected earnings on smaller than forecast revenue growth. The Dow component raised its fiscal full-year earnings guidance, though the new range includes the consensus forecast of analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call. The company also issued guidance for the current fiscal fourth quarter that is below First Call's forecast.

No. 1 media conglomerate Time Warner (Research), the owner of CNNMoney.com, report improved first quarter earnings that met forecasts on a smaller than expected gain in revenue. Shares of Time Warner were up in European trading following the report.

In other corporate news, the Canadian Medical Association Journal published a report that one quarter of Vioxx patients who had a heart attack did so within a few weeks of getting their first prescription. Merck (Research), the drug company facing lawsuits over the effects of the drug, has argued in court that the increased risk of heart attack is only for patients who took the drug for 18 months or longer. Shares of the Dow component were off 1.1 percent in Frankfurt trading Wednesday.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft (Research) has discussed taking a stake in search engine Yahoo! (Research), although the paper cautions that talks don't appear to be active.

Warner Music Group Corp. (Research), rejected a $28.50-a-share takeover approach from rival EMI Group, according to EMI, a deal that would have valued the Warner music at $4.2 billion. The world's No. 4 record label was sold by Time Warner for $2.6 billion in a deal announced in November 2003.