Wall St.'s third quarter to end with investors considering tech company's warning, consumer index.
Reports on consumer confidence and Chicago-area manufacturing could get partially eclipsed by Sun Microsystems' latest warning as Wall Street ends the third quarter Tuesday.
At 5:25 a.m. ET, futures pointed to a lower start for the major indexes.
This has been a very solid summer for the bulls, with the Dow Jones industrial average 4 percent higher and the Nasdaq composite index up nearly 13 percent since the end of June. That includes Monday's 67-point gain for the DJIA and a nearly 32 and a-half point surge for the Nasdaq (see chart for details).
But Sun (SUNW: Research, Estimates) will be a negative influence on the Nasdaq after the maker of servers and software warned Monday that its fiscal first-quarter will be wider than originally expected.
Among U.S. stocks trading in Europe, shares of Sun sank nearly 12 percent.
After trading begins, the Conference Board issues its report on consumer confidence for September. It's expected to show a decline to 80.6 from 81.3 in August, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
Also after the open, the National Association of Purchasing Management-Chicago issues its regional manufacturing index for September. While it's expected to be down at 57 from August's 58.9, the reading would still be above the 50 mark that signals economic expansion. The Chicago report is seen as a harbinger of the national purchasing managers' report scheduled for release Wednesday.
Asian-Pacific stocks ended mostly higher, although a late selloff pushed Tokyo's Nikkei index down 0.1 percent for the day. European markets were mixed in early trading. (Check the latest on world markets)
Treasury prices rose in early trading, sending the 10-year note yield down to 4.05 percent from 4.07 percent late Monday. The dollar continued its slide against the yen and euro, touching three-month lows against the European currency.
Brent oil futures gained 8 cents to $26.58 a barrel in London, where gold retreated in early trading.
Reports on consumer confidence and Chicago-area manufacturing could get partially eclipsed by Sun Microsystems' latest warning as Wall Street ends the third quarter Tuesday.
At 5:25 a.m. ET, futures pointed to a lower start for the major indexes.
This has been a very solid summer for the bulls, with the Dow Jones industrial average 4 percent higher and the Nasdaq composite index up nearly 13 percent since the end of June. That includes Monday's 67-point gain for the DJIA and a nearly 32 and a-half point surge for the Nasdaq (see chart for details).
But Sun (SUNW: Research, Estimates) will be a negative influence on the Nasdaq after the maker of servers and software warned Monday that its fiscal first-quarter will be wider than originally expected.
Among U.S. stocks trading in Europe, shares of Sun sank nearly 12 percent.
After trading begins, the Conference Board issues its report on consumer confidence for September. It's expected to show a decline to 80.6 from 81.3 in August, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
Also after the open, the National Association of Purchasing Management-Chicago issues its regional manufacturing index for September. While it's expected to be down at 57 from August's 58.9, the reading would still be above the 50 mark that signals economic expansion. The Chicago report is seen as a harbinger of the national purchasing managers' report scheduled for release Wednesday.
Asian-Pacific stocks ended mostly higher, although a late selloff pushed Tokyo's Nikkei index down 0.1 percent for the day. European markets were mixed in early trading. (Check the latest on world markets)
Treasury prices rose in early trading, sending the 10-year note yield down to 4.05 percent from 4.07 percent late Monday. The dollar continued its slide against the yen and euro, touching three-month lows against the European currency.
Brent oil futures gained 8 cents to $26.58 a barrel in London, where gold retreated in early trading.
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