Reports on consumer confidence, spending and GDP revision could set tone; futures mixed.
December 23, 2003: 6:34 AM EST
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - A trio of economic reports will help determine the direction that stocks take Tuesday on the last full trading day of a holiday-shortened week.
S&P and Nasdaq futures edged lower in before-hours trading, pointing to a mixed to lower start for stocks on Wall Street.
Stocks rose Monday, pushing the Dow industrials and the S&P 500 to another set of 19-month highs. The Nasdaq composite edged higher. (For more on Monday's markets, click on the chart).
Trading could quiet down with the approach of Christmas Thursday. The stock market will close early Wednesday and Friday and will be closed for Christmas.
But before investors leave, they'll have reports on consumer spending and income, consumer confidence and the last revision for third-quarter economic growth to consider.
They'll also be eyeing a report that the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq market may be considering a merger.
Overseas, stocks drifted lower in Asia, where Japanese markets were closed for a holiday, and started higher in Europe.
Treasury prices drifted higher, pushing the yield on the 10-year note down to 4.16 percent from 4.17 percent late Monday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Stocks to watch Tuesday include Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM: Research, Estimates), maker of the BlackBerry handheld e-mail device, which reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings after the closing bell Monday.
Shares of RIM jumped as high as $54.70 on Instinet and then retraced a bit to $52.65, still up sharply from their Nasdaq close at $46.10.
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