8:40AM: Initial claims for the week of Apr. 20 fell 31K to 421K, which was close to the consensus estimate of 425K; meanwhile the Employment Cost Index for Q1 was up 0.8%, which was a bit better than the 0.9% increase expected by the market... Both reports are slightly positive, but overall, shouldn't have much impact on the market... Presently, the S&P futures, at -5.00, are 7.00 points below fair value while the Nasdaq 100 PMI is down 7.65 points.
8:25AM: Little change in the futures market, which suggests the cash market remains poised for a negative start... Presently, the S&P futures, at -4.60, are 6.60 points below fair value while the Nasdaq 100 Pre-Market Indicator is down 7.07 points... Merrill Lynch is contributing to the negative tone as that firm has downgraded a number of issues, including LSI Logic (LSI 15.12), Scientific-Atlanta (SFA 23.05), F5 Networks (FFIV 13.08), and InVision Technologies (INVN 27.44)...
Separately, CIBC has downgraded AT&T (T 13.75), UBS Warburg has downgraded Qualcomm (QCOM 33.29), and Prudential has downgraded AOL Time Warner (AOL 19.30)...
8:25AM: Little change in the futures market, which suggests the cash market remains poised for a negative start... Presently, the S&P futures, at -4.60, are 6.60 points below fair value while the Nasdaq 100 Pre-Market Indicator is down 7.07 points... Merrill Lynch is contributing to the negative tone as that firm has downgraded a number of issues, including LSI Logic (LSI 15.12), Scientific-Atlanta (SFA 23.05), F5 Networks (FFIV 13.08), and InVision Technologies (INVN 27.44)...
Separately, CIBC has downgraded AT&T (T 13.75), UBS Warburg has downgraded Qualcomm (QCOM 33.29), and Prudential has downgraded AOL Time Warner (AOL 19.30)...
