3:35 AM
Wall Street futures point to slightly lower open
Addison Ray
LONDON | Wed Dec 22, 2010 4:41am EST
LONDON (Reuters) - Stock futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 all fell 0.1 percent, pointing to a slightly weaker start for equities on Wall Street on Wednesday.
Boeing Co (BA.N) said it will soon announce the resumption of test flights for its 787 Dreamliner plane, which have been halted since last month due to technical problems.
Microsoft Corp is working on a version of its core Windows operating system for devices such as tablets, according to media reports on Tuesday, and the company said its Windows Phone 7 software is making headway in the booming smartphone market.
Resource-related stocks will be in focus as crude oil prices rose to slightly above $90 a barrel, supported by data showing a drop in U.S. oil and gasoline inventories, a winter cold snap in the United States and Europe amid thin trading volumes.
On the macroeconomic front, investors will wait for existing home sales data at 1500 GMT (10 a.m. ET) and the final estimate of third-quarter GDP at 1330 GMT.
Walgreen (WAG.N), Micron (MU.O) and Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY.O) are scheduled to announce financial results.
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc (JEC.N) will pay $675 million cash for the process and construction unit of Norwegian engineering services firm Aker Solutions ASA (AKSO.OL), the companies said on Tuesday.
Tibco Software shares (TIBX.O) rose in extended trade on Tuesday after the company reported earnings. The stock was up 5.8 percent at $22.40.
Shares in Nike (NKE.N) and Red Hat (RHT.N) were down 3.3 percent and 2.1 percent respectively in extended trade on Tuesday following their results.
Investors will keep an eye on geopolitical situations. South Korea announced land and sea military exercises on Wednesday including its largest-ever live-fire drill near North Korea just as tension on the peninsula was beginning to ease after Pyongyang's attack on a southern island.
A divided U.S. Federal Communications Commission banned Internet service providers like Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O) from blocking traffic on their networks, provoking warnings the rules would be rejected in the courts and threats from Republican lawmakers to overturn them.
U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday as solid earnings and a flurry of merger activity underpinned a steady upward trend that reinforced investor optimism for the coming year.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI added 55.03 points, or 0.48 percent, to 11,533.16. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX gained 7.52 points, or 0.60 percent, to 1,254.60. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC rose 18.05 points, or 0.68 percent, to 2,667.61.
European shares were flat in early trade on Wednesday, while Japan's Nikkei average .N225 dipped 0.2 percent, backing away from a seven-month intraday high hit earlier, as downbeat comments by the prime minister on the economy prompted investors to adjust positions around new levels.
(Reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Hans Peters)
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