- Why It’s Suddenly Exciting to Be a Yahoo Shareholder Again
- Goldman Investment Shines Light on Solar Power
- Facebook Options Soar on First Day
- Are You Ready for Facebook Options?
- Option Bulls Dig Into Ivanhoe Near Lows
- Greek Exit Could Trigger 50% Fall in Euro Stocks: Analyst
- Big Stock Upside for Hudson City Deal: Analyst
- 5 High-Yield Stocks Ready to Boost Dividends
- Home Prices Hit Fresh Lows, But 'We See Signs of Hope'
- High Tech Worker Shortage: Has Anything Changed?
- Why the Global Rich Keep Relocating
- Facebook Stock Falls Below $30 for First Time
- JPMorgan Sells Good Assets to Offset 'London Whale'
- Big Shift in ECB Balance Sheet a Sign of Banking Stress?
- Spain to Go to Market to Fund Banks, Regions
- Non Biz: Bear Takes a Long Dip in Family's Pool
- Leaving Euro a ‘Disaster’ for Greece: Former Minister
MOST SHARED
- Homes Prices Drop 2% to Post-Crisis Lows: Case-Shiller
- Consumer Confidence Has Biggest Drop in Eight Months
- Stocks Advance, Led by Energy; FB Down 5%
- Spain to Go to Market to Fund Banks, Regions
- State Fund Rejects ‘Unaccountable’ Chesapeake Board
- Greece to Leave Euro Zone on June 18: Wealth Manager
- Auto Sales to Really Take Off This Summer?
- European Firms Plan for Greek Unrest and Euro Exit
- JPMorgan Debacle Points to Regulatory Incompetence, Corruption
- June Could Be Turning Point for Markets, Economy
MOST POPULAR
HOT ON FACEBOOK
Weak Retail Sales Send Futures Lower
Text Size 
Disappointing retail sales numbers sent stock futures negative as Wall Street received fresh warnings about consumer weakness.
Retail sales fell 1.2 percent in May despite projections that they would increase 0.2 percent. Futures had been marginally lower before the news release but slumped quickly afterwards.
Elsewhere, BP [BP
Loading...
()
] rallied, gaining strongly in Europe and up 5.5 percent in premarket trading, as the troubled oil giant battles the worst oil spill in US history.
The head of investment banking at JPMorgan Chase [JPM
Loading...
()
] said its second-quarter earnings performance could be affected by a reduction in client risk appetites.
"People are a little more wary, and that may have an impact on the second quarter, but I think it's way too early to tell right now," Jay Staley told reporters on the sidelines of a financial industry conference in Vienna, according to a Reuters report. Shares edged lower premarket.
Dell [DELL
Loading...
()
] has set aside $100 million for a potential settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has been probing the company's accounting practices and relationship with chipmaker Intel [INTC
Loading...
()
]. Dell shares slipped 1.3 percent premarket.
Dow component Caterpillar [CAT
Loading...
()
] and Navistar [NAV
Loading...
()
] are working out a $586 million truck and engine manufacturing deal with China's Anhui Jianghuai Automobile, a source told Reuters.
On Thursday, U.S. stocks rallied as economic data from the U.S. and China, along with comments from Europe, helped momentum.
European shares rose on Friday, lifted by BP stock, in a 180-degree pivot of its spectacular downward trend since the oil spill in April.
British Prime Minister David Cameron offered to help deal with BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill, saying he would take it up with U.S. President Barack Obama, as the company's shares rebounded from 14-year lows. On Thursday, UK industry expressed alarm yesterday at the “inappropriate” and increasingly aggressive rhetoric being deployed against BP from the US government.
Asian stocks surged on Friday, led by Tokyo, tracking Wall Street's rally overnight which saw all three major indices gaining nearly 3 percent. The Nikkei climbed 1.7 percent, moving closer towards a key resistance level, on signs of health in the euro debt market and a halt in the yen's advance against the euro.
Japan's new prime minister startled markets with statements that his country could face a financial mess like Greece has experienced if its debt problems are not addressed.
Japan is on firmer financial footing than Greece because most of its debt is held domestically and Kan's statements appeared designed to push forward his agenda, which may involve raising taxes.
In other economic news, at 9:55 am the University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment index will be announced, with the consensus of Briefing.com economists expecting a slightly higher figure for June of 74.5 than last month's 73.6.
Finally, business inventories will be announced at 10 am, with a Briefing.com consensus forecast for a 0.5 percent rise for April, compared with an increase of 0.4 percent the month prior.
In March, the increase in sales drove the inventory-to-sales ratio down from 1.27 to 1.24, its lowest level in the history of the index.
There are no major corporate earnings results expected on Friday.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
