NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
U.S. stock markets could fall again Tuesday as investors choose to use an earnings warnings by Sun Microsystems as the excuse to take profits on some of the technology shares that have driven Wall Street's rally so far this year.
Reports on consumer confidence and Chicago-area manufacturing, due after the open, could also help dictate the direction of the market.
Just after 7:30 a.m. ET, futures pointed to a lower start for the major indexes.
"The profit warning from Sun Micro is casting somewhat of a shadow over the European markets," Tom Hougaard at City Index told Reuters.
This has been a very solid summer for the bulls, with the Dow Jones industrial average 4 percent higher and the Nasdaq composite index up nearly 13 percent since the end of June. That includes Monday's 67-point gain for the DJIA and a nearly 32-1/2-point surge for the Nasdaq (see chart for details).
But Sun (SUNW: Research, Estimates) will be a negative influence on the Nasdaq after the maker of servers and software warned Monday that its fiscal first-quarter loss will be wider than originally expected. Although a warning by Sun, a company whose troubles are nothing new, might have been ignored at another time, it could be used by some investors as the reasons to cash in on the tech sector's robust recent gains.
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Click above for details of Monday's advance
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Among U.S. stocks trading in Europe, shares of Sun sank nearly 12 percent.
After trading begins, the Conference Board will issue its report on consumer confidence for September. It's expected to show a decline to 80.6 from 81.3 in August, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
Also after the open, the National Association of Purchasing Management-Chicago will release its regional manufacturing index for September. While it's expected to be down at 57 from August's 58.9, the reading would still be above the 50 mark that signals economic expansion. The Chicago report is seen as a harbinger of the national purchasing managers' report scheduled for release Wednesday.
"The Chicago PMI data and consumer confidence numbers are important, but pale into insignificance against Friday's non-farm payrolls and the rest of the employment data," David Buik at Cantor Index told Reuters.
Investors looked ahead to Friday's jobs report for September, which is expected to show job losses for the eighth consecutive month. The unemployment rate is also expected to show a rise of 0.1 percent, according to Reuters Research. Job reports have been in the spotlight recently, as the labor market has failed to show signs of recovery while the rest of the economy has begun to bounce back. Investors harbor concerns that a jobless recovery could be taking place, which could stifle growth.
Asian-Pacific stocks ended mostly higher, although a late selloff pushed Tokyo's Nikkei index down 0.1 percent for the day. European markets were mixed in midday trading. (Check the latest on world markets)
Treasury prices rose in early trading, sending the 10-year note yield down to 4.05 percent from 4.07 percent late Monday. The dollar continued its slide against the yen and euro, touching a three-month low against the European currency.
Brent crude oil futures gained 12 cents to $26.95 a barrel in London, where gold moved higher in early trading.
-- from staff and wire reports
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