North American stock markets looked set for another day of declines Friday as the U.S. dollar strengthened, commodities fell and investors looked over a disappointing earnings report from computer maker Dell Inc.
In New York, the Dow Jones futures declined 69 points to 10,258, the Nasdaq futures were down 10.2 points to 1,760 while the S&P 500 futures retreated 8.3 points to 1,086.
The Canadian dollar was down 0.56 of a cent to 93.47 cents US after Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney hinted Thursday that the central bank's latest forecast for two per cent real gross domestic product growth for the third quarter is at risk.
"Recent indicators suggest somewhat softer growth relative to that two per cent projection," he told the Foreign Policy Association in New York.
"But the expectation is that the overall profile of the growth in that projection – so accelerating growth in the fourth quarter and into 2010 for Canada – remains valid."
Dell Inc. said Thursday that its net income dropped 54 per cent to US$337 million in the latest quarter amid signs the company isn't fully benefiting from the computer industry's fledgling recovery.
Dell's numbers missed Wall Street's forecasts, and the shares fell almost six per cent in extended trading. It also said that it is seeing improvement in some areas, but repeated its earlier prediction that a meaningful rebound in technology spending by businesses won't come until next year. Its stock was down almost eight per cent in pre-market trading.
Toronto energy stocks will likely be under selling pressure as oil retreated for a second day. The December crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange moved down 96 cents to US$76.50 a barrel.
Metal prices also moved lower as the December bullion contract on the Nymex declined $5 from Thursday's most recent record close to US$1,136.90 an ounce.
December copper pulled back one cent to US$3.07 a pound.
Stock markets finished negative Thursday in the wake of new concerns about the pace of an economic rebound, an analyst downgrade of the tech sector and fresh evidence that the housing market is still fragile.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said more than 14 per cent of homeowners with a mortgage were behind in their payments or facing foreclosure at the end of September.
Overseas markets were also lower with London's FTSE 100 index down 0.64 per cent, Frankfurt's DAX fell 0.77 per cent while the Paris CAC 40 dropped 0.8 per cent.
Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average lost 0.5 per cent even though the Bank of Japan revised up its forecasts for the world's second largest economy.
