Futures point to a negative start (S&P futures vs fair value:
-4.70. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +5.20), but pare some losses after
Hewlett
Packard (HPQ) gave upside fiscal year 2009 earnings guidance.
The Treasury bought $33.6 billion in preferred stock of 21 banks. US Bancorp (USB) received $6.6 billion and Capital One Financial (COF) received $3.56 billion. Yahoo! (YHOO) cofounder Jerry Yang is stepping down once a replacement CEO is found following criticism of his rejection of Microsoft's (MSFT) $47.5 billion buyout offer earlier this year. Executives at General Motors (GM), Ford (F), Chrysler and
the head of the United Auto Workers will testify at a Senate Banking
Committee hearing regarding possible aid for the struggling automakers.
Treasury Secretary Paulson, Fed Chairman Bernanke and FDIC Chairman Bair are set to testify about TARP before the House Financial Services Committee at 14:30 GMT.
In earnings news, Home Depot (HD) reported earnings of $0.45 per
share, which was better than than consensus estimate of $0.38. Given
the macro economic weakness and weak housing markets, Home Depot
expects fiscal year 2008 sales could be down as much as 8%, which is
larger than the expected decline of 6.5%. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) forecast fiscal year 2009 earnings of between $3.88 and $4.03, which topped the consensus estimate of $3.85.
