Wall Street Poised To Open Lower

July 25, 2008 9:38 a.m. EST

New York, NY (AHN) - Stocks on Wall Street are set for a weak start on Friday on slumping housing market conditions as the number of foreclosure filings went up by 120 percent in the second quarter.

At 9:04 a.m. EDT in New York, Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures were moving down by 529.65 points or 2.31 percent at 1,252.54 points, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were decreasing by 283.10 points or 2.43 percent at 11,349.28 points.

At the same time, NASDAQ- 100 Index futures were declining by 45.77 points or 2.01 percent at 2,280.11 points.

In commodities, crude oil moved above the $126-a-barrel mark in electronic trading on Friday.

Crude futures traded by as much as 80 cents higher to $126.29 a barrel on Friday in New York Mercantile Exchange as the U.S. dollar weakened against major currencies.

The contract retreated by $1.05 to $125.49 a barrel in electronic trading on Thursday as the U.S. markets closed down.

Oil prices retreated on Thursday near a seven-week low and it has been down over $20 by this week, which is the largest weekly drop in years.

According to a housing market report Friday issued by RealtyTrac, a total of 739,714 foreclosure filings were registered in the second quarter.

The foreclosure filings were up 14 percent compared to the first quarter and 121 percent compared to the same period in 2007.

Bank repossessions in the second quarter were up to 30 percent of total filings, which were also up by 24 percent compared to a year ago percentage of bank repossessions.

The Commerce Department reported on Friday that an unexpected rise in new orders for U.S.-made capital goods in the month of June.

The report showed an increase of 0.8 percent in June, led by orders for primary metals, machinery and electrical equipment, compared to the revised gain of 0.1 percent in May.

In the technology sector, Juniper Networks Inc. gained in pre-market trading after the second-largest maker of networking equipment reported a 40 percent jump in profit.