LONDON (SHARECAST) - Today is the last trading day of a quarter which has seen the S&P 500 rise just under nine per cent, and it looks like it might be a good day to lock in some profits.
Spread betting quotes point to a 75 point or so fall for the Dow at the outset and an eight point slide for the S&P 500.
Sportswear firm Nike could be fast out of the blocks after it announced earnings after the bell yesterday which were ahead of expectations, though it faces the hurdle of slowing growth in China.
Losses reported last night by Research In Motion, the maker of the still popular but no longer market-leading Blackberry smart-phone, were not bad as feared.
On the macro-economic front, US personal consumption expenditures (PCE) in August were up 0.5%, in line with expectations, after rising 0.4% in July.
Personal income was up 0.1%, slightly below expectations of a 0.2% increase. The July reading was revised to show a 0.1% gain from 0.3% previously.
The Core PCE index rose 0.1% in August, as expected. Core prices were up 1.5% from a year earlier, versus a 1.3% annual increase in July.
We are currently waiting on Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index data, while at 15:00 (UK time) the final reading of the University of Michigan Confidence index for September is due.
LONDON (SHARECAST) - Today is the last trading day of a quarter which has seen the S&P 500 rise just under nine per cent, and it looks like it might be a good day to lock in some profits.
