Marc Pado Comments: Before The Bell: US Stock Futures Point To Weaker Start

July 7, 2010, The Wall Street Journal

U.S. stock futures were pointing to a weaker start for Wednesday, with slowing growth worries continuing to hang over investors and global markets weak after Wall Street nearly lost its grip on gains in the prior session.

Still weak, but paring earlier losses, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 20 points to 9661, while those for the S&P 500 were down 2.5 points to 1022. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 fell 2.75 points to 1731.75.

The main U.S. stock benchmarks survived an afternoon challenge Tuesday, managing to hold onto gains and break multi-session losing streaks after an earlier rally lost steam in the face of consumer discretionary losses and concerns over global growth.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 57.14 points, or 0.6%, at 9743.62, to snap a seven-session losing streak, led by consumer discretionary stocks. The Standard & Poor's 500 index finished up 5.48 points, or 0.5%, at 1028.06. The Nasdaq barely eked out a gain, up 2.09 points, or 0.1%, at 2093.88.

"Technically, the S&P rallied back up to 1040 and couldn't penetrate resistance, so the bears gained the upper had. Overall, it still looks like consolidation for the week, as we look forward to earnings season providing a catalyst," said Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist with Cantor Fitzgerald.