14.11.2008 17:11

Before the bell: Stocks poised to drop

U.S. stock futures fell early Friday after the previous session's roaring gains, as investors awaited a key reading on the retail sector and reacted to reports of massive layoffs at Citigroup.Stock futures have turned lower (S&P futures vs fair value: -18.30. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -25.50.), suggesting an even weaker opening for the week's final trading session.

The global leader in mobile handsets, Nokia (NOK), expects fourth quarter industry volume to decline, but believes its market share will be unchanged to slightly up sequentially. Layoffs continue to mount amid economic weakness; Sun Microsystems (JAVA) announced it will reduce its workforce by 5,000 to 6,000. October import prices were down 4.7% month-over-month, exceeding the 4.4% downturn that was widely expected. October import prices were up 6.7% year-over-year, though. The consensus called for an increase of 8.2% year-over-year. Advance retail sales for October indicated a 2.8% downturn, though the consensus called for a 2.1% downturn. Excluding autos, retail sales were down 2.2%, which is worse than the 1.2% dip that was expected.