Investors keep eye on economy
Futures point to mixed open as investors await reading on fourth-quarter economic growth; Oracle sales disappoint.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stock futures pointed to a mixed open at the start of trading Thursday as investors weighed disappointing results from tech bellwether Oracle and awaited a reading on economic growth and comments from two Federal Reserve governors.
About two hours before the start of trading, S&P futures were pointing to a flat open for the broader market. Nasdaq futures, pressured by disappointing quarterly sales from Oracle (ORCL, Fortune 500), suggested a negative open for tech stocks.
Oracle (ORCL, Fortune 500) reported a jump in profit late Wednesday, but the software firm's sales fell short of Wall Street's estimates. Shares fell 8% following the after-hours earnings report Wednesday.
Concerns about the weakening economy, along with a surge in commodities prices, sent U.S. stocks lower Wednesday.
Those commodity prices continued to climb in early trading Thursday. Oil prices rose in early electronic trading, with a barrel of light sweet crude jumping $1.11 to $107.01.
Investors will get more economic data in the form of a final reading on fourth-quarter gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the nation's economic growth.
Economists surveyed by Briefing.com are forecasting that it will remain unchanged at a narrow 0.6% gain for the last three months of 2007. There is widespread belief among economists that the economy is now in a recession.
The Labor Department will also release its weekly initial claims report. Both reports are due at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Fed Governer Randall Kroszner is set to speak on proposed changes to home lending laws and regulation at 8:15 a.m. ET. At 7:30 p.m. Gov. Frederick Mishkin is set to give a talk on the Fed's inflation comfort zones. There has been growing concern among some economists in the last month that inflation pressures could limit what the Fed can do to spur economic growth.
Companies in the news include Clear Channel (CCU, Fortune 500), which won a temporary restraining order late Wednesday by a Texas judge against a syndicate of Wall Street banks in order to force the lenders to fund the company's buyout deal by private-equity firms Thomas H. Lee Partners LP and Bain Capital Partners LLC.
Problems with financing of the deal was one of the factors that weighed on markets Wednesday. Major U.S. banks named in the suit include Citigroup (C, Fortune 500), Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) and Wachovia (WB, Fortune 500), as well as overseas banks Credit Suisse Group, the Royal Bank of Scotland Group and Deutsche Bank AG. Shares of Clear Channel, which plunged 17% Wednesday, rebounded 7% in after-hours trading on the news.
Lennar Corp. (LEN, Fortune 500), the nation's No. 3 builder by revenue, reported a 56 cent-a-share loss - its fourth loss in a row, although it came in better than forecasts. But the company warned that market conditions in the battered housing market continue to worsen.
In global trade, shares in Japan finished lower. European markets gained in early trading. 
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