Stock futures point to a mixed open as investors digest housing, await consumer data

Stock futures mixed after housing data

The stock market looked to extend its big advance in early trading Tuesday after an upbeat report on home prices.

Stock futures rose slightly after pulling back earlier in the morning. A higher open, even a modest one, would continue the market’s rally from Monday, when the Dow Jones industrials shot up more than 120 points. Investors, who have been more pessimistic lately, got a lift from news of corporate dealmaking that signaled companies are feeling more upbeat about the economy.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index of 20 major cities released Tuesday showed year-over-year improvement for July, the sixth month in a row. The index rose 1.2 percent from June. Though home prices are still 13.3 percent below July a year ago, they have risen for three months straight.

Investors will get news Tuesday morning about one of their greatest concerns, consumer spending, when the Conference Board issues its consumer confidence index for September.

The report is expected to show Americans are more comfortable despite the continuing rise in unemployment. Consumers are critical to a recovery because their spending accounts for more than two-thirds of all economic activity.

Economists project a reading of 57.0, up from 54.1 in August. The report is due at 10 a.m. EDT.

Disappointing manufacturing and home sales data reignited worries last week that any economic recovery may be slow and bumpy.

Ahead of the opening bell, Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 7, or 0.1 percent, to 9,735. Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures lost 1.30, or less than 0.1 percent, to 1,060.30, while Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 2.75, or 0.2 percent, at 1,720.00.

Asian stocks rebounded, while European markets remain modestly lower.

Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 0.9 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.3 percent, Germany’s DAX index was down 0.4 percent, and France’s CAC-40 was down 0.3 percent.

Oil prices continued their tumble on the growing belief that the economy won’t be strong enough to lift demand as much as expected. Oil had been steadily rising in recent months on growing expectations that the economy was going to be stronger, therefore pushing demand higher.

Oil prices fell 79 cents to $66.05 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Meanwhile, bond prices fell. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.32 percent from 3.28 percent late Monday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, rose to 0.12 percent from 0.10 percent late Monday.

The dollar mostly rose against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.