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 The Commerce Department at 8:30 a.m. EDT releases its Producer Price Index. The index is expected to show a 0.5 percent rise for March, and the core index, which strips out food and energy prices, is anticipated to increase 0.2 percent.
High inflation figures could raise worries that the Federal Reserve will hesitate to lower interest rates again, and that consumers will continue paring back their discretionary spending to afford necessities like food, energy and health care.
Meanwhile Tuesday, the New York Fed is expected to report that manufacturing in the region contracted, but at a much milder pace than in March, when the state's manufacturing shrank at a record clip.
And in earnings news, Johnson & Johnson, one of the 30 Dow Jones industrials, releases its first-quarter results. Wall Street is forecasting a rise in profit at the maker of health care and personal products.
After stocks closed Monday moderately lower, Dow futures on Tuesday fell 31, or 0.25, to 12,285. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 2.60, or 0.20 percent, to 1,328.70. Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 3.00, or 0.17 percent, to 1,793.25.
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 Bond prices rose. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.48 percent from 3.51 percent late Monday.
In dealmaking news, Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. agreed late Monday to combine in a stock-swap deal, creating the world's biggest airline.
Oil prices traded at record highs. Light, sweet crude rose 88 cents to $112.64 a barrel in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold prices rose, and the dollar was mixed against other major currencies.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.77 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.91 percent, Germany's DAX index was flat percent, and France's CAC-40 slipped 0.10 percent.
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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 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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