Filed under: Before the bell, International markets, Market matters, Economic data, Oil, Housing

U.S. stock futures declined Wednesday morning, but it seemed investors were still trying to find direction following a choppy and mixed trading day Tuesday and ahead of a key retail sales figure. Also in focus today are earnings from a few retailers, as well as oil’s upward move.

The problems in the housing sector remained in focus as RealtyTrac released the number of U.S. households that faced foreclosure jumped 32% in April compared with the same month last year. More than 342,000 households received at least one foreclosure-related notice in April. If there’s any small comfort to find in this, however, it is that the April number was less than 1% above that posted in March, after the March data was up 17% from February. So perhaps the rate is beginning to stabilize or even decline.

Continue reading Before the bell: Stocks poised for lower start ahead of retail data

Before the bell: Stocks poised for lower start ahead of retail data originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 13 May 2009 07:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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