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 Wall Street -- which will take a rest Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday
-- has been thrashing around recently as investors attempt to gauge how companies around the world will fare amid a further slowdown in the U.S. housing market and deterioration of credit.
Investors abroad looked pessimistic Wednesday. In Asian trading, Japan's Nikkei stock average sank 2.46 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 4.15 percent. In European trading, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 1.38 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 1.70 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 1.87 percent.
At 8:30 a.m. EDT, the Commerce Department releases its weekly jobless claims report, and at 10 a.m., the Conference Board reports on leading indicators and the University of Michigan offers its reading on consumer sentiment. Also Wednesday, Deere & Co. and Gap Inc. will release quarterly financial results.
Dow Jones industrial futures fell 111, or 0.85 percent, to 12,949. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures dropped 14.90, or 1.03 percent, to 1,431.00. Nasdaq 100 index futures slumped 17.75, or 0.87 percent, to 2,017.75
The stock market managed to finish with a gain Tuesday, upbeat about an economic forecast that seemed to imply that the Federal Reserve is willing to keep lowering rates. But the advance came after frenetic triple-digit swings in the Dow Jones industrials as investors wrestled with losses at government-sponsored lenders Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and possible liquidity woes at mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp.
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 And with oil prices briefly reaching a high above $99 a barrel in overnight electronic trading, the question among investors is no longer if oil will reach $100 a barrel, but when
-- and how long it will stay at those lofty levels.
By early Wednesday morning, crude futures had pulled back in pre-market electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, slipping 64 cents to $97.39 a barrel. Whether they rebound to a new record will depend much on the Energy Department's inventory report, scheduled to be released at 10:30 a.m.
The dollar rose against most other major currencies, but fell versus the yen. Gold advanced.
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On the Net:
New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com/
Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com/
[Associated Press; By MADLEN READ]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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