Before The Bell – A Glimpse Of The Market Today

Stock futures face another dismal day on Friday following Thursday’s selloff over economic concerns, weaker-than-expected jobless claims data and a negative Philadelphia Fed Index. The DOW futures fell 42 points to 10,193, the S&P 500 futures shed 4.6 points to 1,067, and the NASDAQ futures fell 5.5 points to 1,815. There are no major economic releases scheduled for Friday. Late Thursday, Dell DELL exceeded expectations by $0.02 with earnings of $0.32 a share and reported sales of $15.53 billion, compared with revenue estimates of $15.21 billion during the second quarter. Hewlett Packard HPQ reported earnings of $1.08 a share on sales of $30.7 billion. Potash Group of Saskatchewan POT is reportedly seeking counteroffers that would compete with BHP Billiton’s BHP bid of $39.6 billion. JM Smucker SJM exceeded expectations with earnings of $1.04 a share. Retailer AnnTaylor Stores ANN is also scheduled to report its earnings. According to analysts, ANN is expected to report earnings of $0.59 share before the bell. SJM is at $58, pre market. Hormel Foods’ HRL fiscal third-quarter earnings rose 11%. The result beat analysts' expectations and the company raised the year's earnings forecast for a third time, hiking it to $2.85 to $2.91 a share from $2.75 to $2.85, reported the Wall Street Journal. HRL is at $44.10, up 1.68%, pre market. Among companies due to report results today include Volt Information Sciences VOL, AnnTaylor ANN, Corinthian Colleges COCO, Kirkland’s Inc. KIRK, Champion Industries CHMP, Matrix Service Company MTRX, and Hibbett Sports HIBB. Elsewhere in the global markets, the Nikkei 225 shed more than 183 points to close at 9,179.38. The Hang Seng Index fell by 90 points to close at 20,981.82. The FTSE 100 fell by 20 points at 5,190.64 and the CAC 40 fell by more than 40 points at 3,531.12. The Dollar Index gained 0.691% to $83.017. Crude oil fell 1.44% to $73.36.