Wall Street Points To Lower Losses On GE, Nike, WaMu

September 25, 2008 8:35 a.m. EST

New York, NY (AHN) - Stocks on Wall Street may open on a mixed note Thursday on reports that General Electric Co. has slashed its earnings forecast, offsetting the gains from declining oil prices.

Early on Thursday, GE announced that it has cut down its earnings view for the rest of the year and suspended a stock buyback, citing unexpected weakness in its financials business.

Shares of GE declined by 4.9 percent after the company slashed its third- quarter profit outlook to 43 cents to 48 cents a share.

At 7:51 a.m. EDT in New York, S&P futures were trading down by 3.60 points or 0.30 percent at 1,189.40 points, NASDAQ futures was moving up by 2.00 points or 0.12 percent at 1,674.00 points, while Dow was trading lower at 27.00 points or 0.25 percent at 10,833.00 points.

Shares of Nike Inc. soared to 2.8 percent in Frankfurt trading, which added to the overall rally, after the company posted better-than-expected earnings on Thursday.

The world's biggest athletic-shoe maker reported that its fiscal first quarter net profit surged on higher sales, rising by 17 percent.

Oil futures continued its downward movement and edged for $100 on Thursday. Recently, a light, sweet barrel for November delivery was trading down by $1.43 to $104.30 a barrel.

On Wednesday, the contract had declined by as much as $1.87 or 1.8 percent to $103.86 a barrel overnight in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In addition, shares of Washington Mutual advanced in pre market session on reports that the mortgage lender has contacted other firms for a takeover offer.

The market analysts and reports have been speculating that Washington Mutual Inc., the country's largest U.S. savings and loan, has received bids from different buyers.

Reports indicated that the financial firms including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. may bid for acquiring stakes in Washington Mutual.

In economic reports, the Labor Department is scheduled to release information on initial jobless claims for the week ended Sept. 13 at 8:30 a.m. EDT.

The Commerce Department is also scheduled to release information on durable goods report for August at 8:30 a.m. ET.

In global markets, shares in European markets turned green on Thursday's early morning trading, led by automakers as oil retreated. Asian markets closed mostly lower on Thursday after erasing early day gains on concerns that the proposed rescue plan by the U.S. government could be delayed. While, the Shanghai Composite closed up by 3.6 percent.

In currency trading, the yen changed hands at 105.90 yen per U.S. dollar in Asia on Thursday, after it closed at 106.02 yen late Wednesday in New York.