Before the bell: Futures mixed ahead of Bernanke (LEH, SPLS, TOL)

03 06 2008

Before the bell: Futures mixed ahead of Bernanke (LEH, SPLS, TOL)

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Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Deals, Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), Market matters, Staples Inc (SPLS), Toll Brothers (TOL), Economic data, Oil, Lehman Br Holdings (LEH), Housing, Federal Reserve

U.S. stock futures were mixed early Tuesday morning, trading in a narrow range as investors awaited Fed Chairman Bernenake’s speech, analyzed oil prices and reacted to news Lehman Brothers might $4 billion in capital.

After a four-day winning streak, U.S. stocks declined on Monday following renewed concerns about the financial markets following management changes at Wachovia and Washington Mutual, downgrades of several financials and Britain’s Bradford & Bingley warning about profits. The Dow industrials dropped 134 points, or 1.06%, the Nasdaq Composite lost 31 points, or 1.23%, and the S&P 500 dropped 14 points, or 1.05%.

While not much is on the economic docket for this day other than April factory orders due at 10:00 a.m. EDT, investor will likely be interested in the International Monetary Conference in Barcelona where Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke as well as European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa are going to talk starting 9:00 a.m. EDT.

Meanwhile, crude oil futures remained above $127 a barrel Tuesday with some investors thinking oil prices might have peaked, despite others being concerned yet about supply meeting growing global demand.

The biggest corporate story this morning no doubt come from Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) as The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday the investment bank is considering whether to raise up to $4 billion in fresh capital, suggesting it may report its first-ever quarterly loss as a public company. LEH shares are trading down 2.9% in early premarket action.

In deal news, Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) can’t take no for an answer as it said on Tuesday it raised to $2.6 billion its hostile bid for Dutch office supplies distributor Corporate Express NV (NYSE: CXP). If Corporate Express can’t come up with another clever way to get out of this one, perhaps third time’s a charm? Corporate Express shares are now worth more than twice what they were when rumors of a Staples bid began circulating in February.

And in earnings news, Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) swung to a hefty loss in the second quarter due to huge write-downs on the value of land joint ventures, but results topped Wall Street expectations.

Also this day, automakers will be reporting May auto sales figures. Overall weakness is expected, as even Toyota (NYSE: TM) might not be immune to the downturn.

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