Stock futures fall as global economic worries rise
By MADLEN READ
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - Lowered expectations for the global economy aregiving investors more to be wary about.
Stock futures retreated early Monday as the World Bank added to the market’s growing economic worries. The Washington-basedmultilateral lender predicted the world economy will shrink 2.9percent in 2009. That estimate was worse than its previous forecast for a 1.7 percent decline.
The stock market is coming off its first weekly loss in more than a month after mixed economic readings last week deflated hopes for a quick U.S. recovery.
No major economic reports are due Monday. But later in the week, traders will focus on data on new and existing home sales, durable goods orders, gross domestic product and personal incomes and spending.
The Federal Reserve will also be in the spotlight after its two-day meeting on monetary policy finishes Wednesday. The central bank is expected to hold its key rate steady near zero, but investors want to know whether policy makers will buy more Treasurys than they initially planned.
The Fed has been buying government debt at the same time the Treasury Department has been issuing record amounts of government debt. The Treasury is planning to auction $104 billion in debt this week.
Before the market’s open, Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 61, or 0.7 percent, to 8,415. Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 7.00, or 0.8 percent, to 908.70, and Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 9.00, or 0.6 percent, to 1,455.00.
The Dow fell 3 percent last week, while the S&P 500 index dropped 2.6 percent and the Nasdaq composite lost 1.7 percent.
Bond prices rose in early trading Monday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price,slipped to 3.75 percent from 3.78 percent late Friday.
Crude oil fell $1.15 to $68.40 a barrel in premarket trading onthe New York Mercantile Exchange.
The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.
Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 0.4 percent. In midday trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 1.3 percent, Germany’s DAX index fell 1.5 percent, and France’s CAC-40 fell 1.7 percent.
In corporate news, the mining company Anglo American PLC jumped 6 percent after Anglo-Swiss rival Xstrata PLC made a preliminary approach seeking a merger. Xstrata’s shares sank 4 percent.
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