- How Many US Consumers Will Shop this Weekend?
- Tuesday's Heavy Dose of Data to Dictate 'Risk' Behavior
- World's Largest Share Issue Priced at Deep Discount
- Obama says Boosting US Jobs is Top Priority
- Why the Dollar Will Likely Stay Weak for Some Time
- Playboy to Outsource Most Magazine Operations: Report
- General Motors to Cut up to 9,500 Jobs in Europe
- EU Drops Proceedings Against Qualcomm
- Appeals Court Denies Microsoft's Alcatel Petition
- Can Murdoch Help Bing Challenge Google and Shift the Content Equation?
- HP's Mark Hurd
- HP Comes in As Expected; Is It Time to Buy?
- 9 Stocks That Play Rising Water Costs: Strategists
- Weis' Deal Likely Won't Change Big Money Contracts
- Gold Prices Can Double in 3 Years: Portfolio Manager
- Nov. 23: Unusual Volume Leaders
- Help Wanted—Please Run $4 Billion University
- Apple Comes to AT&T's Rescue
MOST SHARED
- The 'Real' Jobless Rate: 17.5% Of Workers Are Unemployed
- Why Amazon Rules Retail
- Wave of Debt Payments Facing US Government
- China Eastern to Complete Shanghai Air Buy by End '09
- Paul: Audit the Fed
- The Social Media Gaming Threat
- Gold Will Collapse Like Oil Did in 2008: Charts
- Prepare For Large Decline In Stocks, Next Year?
- JAL Slides to Record Low on Bankruptcy Jitters
- Lyondell Urged to Consider Reliance Takeover Offer
Text Size 
Stock index futures indicated a positive open, helped by data showing that both the layoffs in October and the expected pace of job cuts improving.
Separate reports from ADP Employer Services and Challenger, Gray & Christmas respectively showed a loss of 203,000 jobs in October and planned layoffs in the month hitting a 19-month low.
Futures had been higher and added to their gains following the release of the numbers.
Earlier, the Mortgage Bankers Association said applications for home loans increased after interest rates slipped below 5 percent.
Elsewhere, Fed policymakers will conclude their two-day meeting by issuing a statement at about 2:15 pm New York time, and as usual, investors will be looking for any indications that the Fed is at least telegraphing when it might consider raising interest rates that are currently near zero and exiting the various measures instituted to deal with the financial crisis.
 |
Also out today will be the ISM nonmanufacturing index (10 am), which measures the strength of the U.S. service economy. Consensus forecasts call for an ISM number of 51.6, above the 50 figure that marks the dividing line between expansion and contraction. That would also be above last month's reading of 50.9.
At 10:30 am, we'll get the usual Wednesday reading on oil and gasoline inventories from the Energy Department's Energy Information Agency.
On this morning's earnings calendar: Automatic Data Processing, [ADP
Loading...
()
] Comcast, [CMCSA
Loading...
()
] Devon Energy, [DVN
Loading...
()
] Garmin, [GRMN
Loading...
()
] Marsh & McLennan, [MMC
Loading...
()
] Pulte Homes, [PHM
Loading...
()
] Molson Coors, [TAP
Loading...
()
] and Time Warner [TWX
Loading...
()
].
Investors are also looking ahead to important after-the-bell reports from Dow component Cisco Systems, [CSCO
Loading...
()
] News Corp., [NWS
Loading...
()
] Qualcomm, [QCOM
Loading...
()
] and Whole Foods [WFMI
Loading...
()
].
Oracle [ORCL
Loading...
()
] and Sun Microsystems [JAVA
Loading...
()
] could be stocks to watch today, as the Financial Times reports that the European Union is close to formally objecting to Oracle's $7.4 billion takeover of Sun on antitrust grounds -- which could be a step on the way to blocking the deal.
Dow component Kraft [KFT
Loading...
()
] beat estimates with its after-the-bell earnings late yesterday, and also upped its earnings forecast.
Auto industry news: Nissan is changing its annual loss forecast to a profit, Toyota is bailing out of Formula One racing because of the weak economy, and General Motors has decided to keep its European Opel unit rather than selling it.
- Written by Peter Schacknow, Senior Producer, CNBC Breaking News Desk
- A diet high in fat and sugar might actually be good for your portfolio.
- Warren Buffett and Bill Gates discuss the economy and other subjects with CNBC's Becky Quick.
- From the AIG&T to the Merrill Lychee, Jane Wells lists this year's fashionable holiday cocktails.
- One shopper explains why – aside from the prices – he gets up at 3am on the day after Thanksgiving to go shopping every year.
- Congressman Ron Paul explains to Squawk Box why he’s pushing legislation to audit the Federal Reserve.
- …you'll want to be prepared. Tips for getting the most out of the post-Thanksgiving shopping frenzy.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes