Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 9 points, or 7.3 points below fair value, at 12,121. Futures for the S&P 500 were down 2.5 points, or 2.1 points below fair value, at 1259 and futures for theNasdaq were slipping 0.2 points, or 1.9 points below fair value, at 2350.
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Signs of further political stability in Europe over the weekend provided some hope that Italy and Greece might be able to work through their debt problems without dragging down additional nations of the eurozone. However, investors are cautious that the sovereign debt crisis could still take unexpected turns. Worries remain that Italy will, like Greece, eventually ask for an international bailout.On Sunday, Italy appointed former European Union competition commissioner Mario Monti to replace Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The transition to a new government is meant to restore investor confidence in the ability of Italy to adopt austerity measures as promised to the European Union.In a sign of lingering worries about Europe's debt crisis, Italian bond yields on the country's 10-year benchmark were up by 2.36% to 6.6% on Monday. Yields have eased, however, from last week's euro-era record highs above 7%. The euro was slightly weaker at $1.36 and Wall Street was set to follow Europe lower, with London's FTSE down 0.47% and Germany's DAX losing 0.94%. "While the news coming out of Europe remains unsettling for sure, they continue to muddle along over there, avoiding a meltdown so far," wrote Ed Yardeni, chief investment strategist with Yardeni Research. However, Yardeni believes the stock market may see a year-end rally as the holidays approach. "The S&P 500 has been remarkably resilient so far this year, though it has also been remarkably volatile." A rebound in Japan's economy gave a boost to Asian stocks. Japan's economy expanded for the first time since the earthquake and tsunami disaster as a read on the country's gross domestic product for the third quarter came in slightly higher than expected at an annualized pace of 6%. Japan's Nikkei Average gained 1.05% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.94%.Last week, worries over political maneuvering in Europe and surging borrowing costs in Italy triggered a global selloff mid-week before stocks rebounded Thursday and Friday. Sentiment improved after Greece appointed a new leader and Italy's Senate approved economic reforms, paving the way for Berlusconi's weekend resignation. The Dow gained 1.42%, the Nasdaq edged up 0.28% and the S&P 500 rose 0.85% for the week.Before the opening bell Monday, Lowe's(LOW) was rising 1.2%. The home improvement retailer said it earned $225 million, or 18 cents a share, in the third quarter, down 44% from earnings a year earlier, as the company was hit with charges related to store closings and discontinued projects. Lowe's said sales rose 2.3% to $11.9 billion. Analysts were expecting Lowe's to earn 33 cents a share in the third quarter on sales of $11.69 billionBoeing(BA) was up 2.9% after it won an order for 50 777s from Dubai airline Emirates. The order, valued at $18 billion, is Boeing's biggest-ever single order in dollar terms. Emirates has options to buy additional planes, which could boost the value of the order to $26 billion.Dow component International Business Machines (IBM) was edging up 1% after Warren Buffett said in a CNBC interview that Berkshire Hathaway invested $10.7 billion in the company despite having avoided technology stocks in the past. Buffett began building a 5.5% stake in March of this year.Gold for December delivery was down $9.40 to trade at $1778.70 an ounce on Monday. In other commodities, the December crude oil contract edged down 79 cents to trade at $98.20 a barrel.The dollar was down 0.4% compared to a basket of currencies. In the bond market, 10-year Treasuries were slipping 3/32, pushing the yield to 2.066%. The Federal Reserve will auction off bills with maturities up to six months Monday. .
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