Wall Street's Concerns Mitigate As Commodities Limp Back Up

(RTTNews) - Trading in the U.S. index futures suggests that Wall Street stocks may fight back after two days of steep losses. The major U.S. index futures point to a modestly lower opening on Wednesday. Oil is higher since early Asian session after settling the New York session near six year lows. Other commodities are also stabilizing and the dollar is giving back some ground. After Asian markets fell yet again, the European markets got off to a firm start but have since then lost momentum. With some deal speculation doing the rounds in the domestic markets, the markets could attempt to make a comeback.

As of 6:15 am ET, the Dow futures are receding 8 points, the S&P 500 futures are down 4 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures are slipping 13 points.

U.S. stocks ended Tuesday's session lower, although ending well off the lows of the session, as commodity prices continued to be under pressure and the absence of any major domestic catalysts created indecision among traders.

On the economic front, the Commerce Department is set to release its wholesale inventories report for October at 10 am ET. Economists expect wholesale inventories to have risen by 0.2 percent month-over-month.

The Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release its petroleum status report for the week ended December 4th at 10:30 am ET.

In major corporate news, Costco (COST) reported first quarter earnings per share that trailed estimates. Net sales rose merely 1 percent and were below expectations. Comparable store sales declined 1 percent.

General Electric is nearing a deal to sell its commercial-lending business in Japan to Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group's leasing arm for $4.7 billion, according to a Wall Street report.

A separate WSJ report also suggested that Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) and EI DuPont (DD) are in advanced talks to merge.

Oxford Industries (OXM) reported a loss per share from continuing operations for its third quarter, reversing from a profit in the same period last year. The company's revenues also declined year-over-year. The company's full year guidance is weak.

Comtech Telecom (CMTL) and Men's Wearhouse (MW) are among the companies due to release their quarterly results after the close of trading.

The major Asian markets fell yet again, as risk aversion continued to hold sway, with the Japanese, South Korean and Indonesian markets leading the way lower. Data showing faster than expected acceleration in Chinese inflation did not augur well for further stimulus, generating selling pressure. However, the Chinese and New Zealand markets bucked the downtrend.

The Japanese market retreated, as the yen remained firm. The Nikkei 225 average ended down 191.53 points or 0.98 percent at 19,301. Australia's All Ordinaries languished below the unchanged line for much of the session before ending down 28.10 points or 0.54 percent at 5,130.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed at 21,804, down 101.37 points or 0.46 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index ended a volatile session up 2.37 points or 0.07 percent at 3,472.

On the economic front, the China National Bureau of Statistics released its consumer and producer price inflation reports, showing a mixed trend. As food and non-food prices rose, annual consumer price inflation accelerated to 1.5 percent from in November from 1.3 percent in October, although it is still substantially below the government's year-end target of 3 percent. Economists expected a slower pick up to 1.4 percent.

Meanwhile, producer prices in China fell for the forty-fifth consecutive month, falling 5.9 percent, the same rate of drop as in October, but more modest than the 6 percent decline estimated by economists.

A report released by Japan's Cabinet Office showed that core machinery orders in Japan rose 10.7 percent month-over-month in October, belying expectations for a 1.5 percent drop. Annually, core machinery orders jumped a more than expected 10.3 percent.

The results of a survey by Westpac showed that confidence among consumers in Australia eased in December. The index fell 0.8 percent to 100.8.

European stocks started higher but lost momentum and slid below the unchanged line by late morning trading.

In corporate news, Computer Sciences (CSC) announced a deal to buy U.K.'s Xchanging for 190 pence per share in cash, implying an equity value of about $720 million. Electrolux said it would pay a break-fee of $175 million to General Electric (GE) related to their now dissolved deal to sell the latter's appliance business to the former.

Electrolux said it is looking to boost profitability by taking actions, including staff reduction and downsizing of activities, mainly in the U.S., Sweden and China.

On the economic front, German exports and imports declined more than expected in October, data released by the German Federal Statistical Office revealed.

Exports fell 1.2 percent month-over-month in October, when it advanced 2.6 percent. Shipments were expected to fall 0.6 percent. Imports declined 3.4 percent in contrast to September's 3.8 percent increase. Economists had estimated a 1 percent drop for October. The trade surplus rose to around a seasonally adjusted 20.8 billion euros in October from about 19.2 billion euros a month ago.