Wall Street poised for lower opening Friday

[February 20, 2009]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street was poised to extend its losses Friday after the Dow Jones industrial average sank to its lowest level in more than six years.

On Thursday, the Dow broke through a bottom reached in November, pulled down by a steep drop in key financial shares. It was the lowest close for the Dow since Oct. 9, 2002, the depths of the last bear market.

Stocks have fallen steadily over the past two weeks as investors lost confidence in multiple Obama administration programs aimed at bolstering the economy. The market's inability to rally signals that investors don't have a sense of when the recession, already 14 months old, will end.

A new report on consumer prices, a key measure of inflation, is scheduled to be released Friday providing more insight into how the economy is faring. The Consumer Price Index likely rose by 0.3 percent last month, according to economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters. The CPI fell 0.7 percent in December after drops of 1.7 percent in November and 1 percent in October.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, is expected to post a slight 0.1 percent gain in January. The Labor Department is scheduled to release the CPI report at 8:30 a.m. EST.

Investors also await earnings reports from two key retailers, Lowe's Cos. and J.C. Penney Co. Both are scheduled to report results before the market opens.

Ahead of Friday's open, Dow futures fell 122, or 1.63 percent, to 7,340. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 11, or 1.41 percent, to 768.40, while Nasdaq 100 index futures declined 13.50, or 1.15 percent, to 1,157.00.

Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 2.80 percent from 2.86 percent late Thursday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, was flat at 0.30 percent compared with late Thursday.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

Oil fell $1.68 to $37.80 per barrel in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average declined 1.87 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 tumbled 2.29 percent, Germany's DAX index declined 3.06 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 2.91 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 STEPHEN BERNARD]

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