Stock futures point to lower Wall Street open

[October 21, 2009]  MILAN (AP) -- Stock futures pointed to a lower opening on Wall Street Wednesday as third-quarter earnings reports once again set the market's mood.

Continental Airlines Inc. cited lower revenue from business travelers as it reported a loss for the July-September period. Investors will get additional insight into how the airline industry is faring when AirTran Holdings and AMR Corp. report results.

Financial firms including Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo & Co. are also due to report results before the market opens.

Investors are anxious to see if companies from a broad range of industries on continue to post better-than-expected results. Soft U.S. housing data on Tuesday squelched some of the market's optimism, sending major indexes down about half a percent.

Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 52, or 0.5 percent, to 9,948. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 6.20, or 0.6 percent, to 1,083.20, while Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 10.50, or 0.6 percent, to 1,747.75.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.03 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.8 percent, Germany's DAX index was down 1 percent, and France's CAC-40 was down 1.3 percent.

Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.35 percent from 3.34 percent late Tuesday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, was unchanged from 0.08 percent late Tuesday.

The dollar mostly rose against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.

[Associated Press; By IEVA M. AUGSTUMS]

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.