Ford offers Wall Street some relief

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stock futures gained some ground early Thursday after better-than-expected earnings from Ford Motor helped offset concerns about the credit crunch and economic outlook.

At 7:28 a.m. ET, Nasdaq futures were off their lows while S&P futures turned higher. Earlier, both indicators had suggested a much sharply lower opening for Wall Street.

Helping to boost sentiment were Ford's (Charts, Fortune 500) third-quarter results. The automaker posted a net loss that was narrower than analysts had expected. A much bigger-than-expected loss at rival General Motors (Charts, Fortune 500) helped spark the previous session's stock selloff.

Ford shares rose 5 percent in premarket trading.

The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 361 points and all the major indexes lost nearly 3 percent of their value Wednesday on concerns about the credit market and a record high oil price that came within $1.38 of the $100-a-barrel milestone.

Oil prices eventually retreated to end 33 cents a barrel lower Wednesday, but they were on the rise again in early electronic trading Thursday. A barrel of light sweet crude gained 41 cents to $96.78 in electronic trading.

In a conference call Wednesday after Cisco (Charts, Fortune 500) reported fiscal first-quarter earnings and revenue above analysts' forecasts, CEO John Chambers said he expects the cooling U.S. economy to hamper the unit of the Internet server maker that deals with businesses. That sent shares of Cisco down more than 10 percent in heavy Frankfurt trading early Thursday.

Morgan Stanley (Charts, Fortune 500) became the latest major Wall Street firm to reveal massive losses due to subprime mortgage woes as it announced a $3.7 billion writedown late Wednesday, and said it could lose up to $6 billion if all of its investments in the sector went bad. Shares of the stock still managed to edge higher in after-hours trading as the report was seen placing a limit on its exposure.

Dow component American International Group (Charts, Fortune 500) posted lower earnings after the bell Wednesday that missed forecasts, as world's largest insurer said it was hurt by tight credit and the ailing U.S. housing market. Shares of AIG lost 3 percent in after-hours trading following the report.

Drugmaker Merck & Co. (Charts, Fortune 500), another Dow component, issued a study late Wednesday that showed volunteers who got its experimental AIDS vaccine in a study were far more likely to get infected with the virus through sex or other risky behavior than those who got placebos. Merck shares fell nearly 2 percent in Frankfurt trading.

Media conglomerate News Corp. (Charts, Fortune 500) reported improved operating earnings after the bell Wednesday that topped forecasts, but shares remained unchanged in after-hours trading.

In another sign of weakness in the housing market, luxury home builder Toll Brothers (Charts, Fortune 500) reported a sharp drop in revenue and sales in a preliminary look at fourth quarter results.

Major retailers are to due report October sales, and some could give an outlook for the all-important holiday shopping period. Thomson First Call is forecasting that sales at chain stores open a least a year, an important retail measure known as same-store sales, rose a modest 2 percent in October, less than the 3 percent rise reported a year earlier.

Wholesale club retailer Costco (Charts, Fortune 500) got the reports going strongly early Thursday, reporting a 9 percent gain in sales, helped by strong sales outside the United States. That topped forecasts of a 5.7 percent increase.