Flat open seen for stocks

Investors may catch their breath after pushing Dow to 13-month high. Wave of economic reports in focus.

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By CNNMoney.com staff

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks were poised to open narrowly mixed Tuesday, losing what little gains they had after a downward revision of the gross domestic product report.

Dow Jones industrial average and Nasdaq futures were slightly lower before the opening bell, while the S&P futures were slightly higher.

Futures measure current index values against the perceived future performance, offering guidance on stock performance, though they're not always an accurate barometer.

Wall Street kicked off the week on a positive note Monday, pushing the Dow to a 13-month high. Stocks were buoyed by a strong housing report and a jump in commodities.

David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Markets in London, said early in the morning that he expects positive sentiment to eventually take over.

"I think it would be have to be quite a surprising [GDP] number to knock the positive sentiment at the moment," he said prior to the GDP revision, which matched expectations. "I think there's a good chance that we'll see further gains over the next few weeks. We haven't seen a major pullback since June."

Economy: The government announced its revised figure for the GDP, showing an annual rate of increase of 2.8% in the third quarter. That matched consensus expectations from Briefing.com.

This is a downward adjustment from the preliminary GDP figure released by the government in October, which showed growth of 3.5% in the third quarter.

That's followed by the Case-Shiller housing index at 9 a.m. ET. After U.S .markets open, a report on consumer confidence comes out, and minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting are due out at 2 p.m. ET.

Companies: HP (HPQ, Fortune 500) reported a 14% rise in quarterly profit late Monday, in line with early figures the company released a few weeks ago.

World markets: Global stock indexes retreated. In Japan, the Nikkei finished the session down 1%. European shares were slightly higher in midday trading.

Money, oil and gold: The dollar was mixed against most major international currencies, slipping versus the euro and the yen but rising against the pound.

The price of oil slipped 32 cents to $77.24 a barrel.

Gold continues to trade in record territory, rising $4.40 an ounce to $1,169.10. This is after gold hit another record on Monday, with the December contract soaring $18 to settle at $1,164.70 an ounce. To top of page

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