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 Stock futures traded in a narrow range, having pulled back Monday following steep gains last week. Beyond quarterly results from names such as Duke Energy Corp., investors were awaiting figures on the service sector and retailing.
Wall Street expects the Institute for Supply Management's report on service sector growth for January to show a slight slowdown. Also, investors predict the weekly ICSC-UBS chain store sales index will register a decline.
Beyond economic figures, investors continued to look for signs about the health of corporate dealmaking
-- one barometer of the robustness of the economy. Some of investors' enthusiasm over Microsoft Corp.'s bid for Yahoo Inc. perhaps dissipated Tuesday after Banc of America Securities lowered its rating on Yahoo to neutral from buy, saying the proposed acquisition could run up against regulatory challenges, according to Dow Jones Newswires. The bank said regulatory difficulties could be steepest in the European Union.
Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 8, or 0.06 percent, to 12,604. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures slipped 0.80, or 0.06 percent, to 1,378.00, and Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 1.25, or 0.07 percent, to 1,828.00.
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 Bond prices fell. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.65 percent from 3.64 percent late Monday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.
Light, sweet crude oil was down 85 cents at $89.17 a barrel in premarket trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average closed down 0.82 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.89 percent. In morning trading, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.42 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 0.51 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 0.87 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 TIM PARADIS]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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