Stocks to open lower, ending flat week

By Elizabeth Trotta, TheStreet.com

Premarket futures suggest a lower open for stocks in New York ahead of the latest data on personal income and spending, and the University of Michigan’s final reading on consumer sentiment for June.

Futures for the S&P 500 were down 2.5 points at 914.1, and were 2.06 points below fair value. Futures on the Nasdaq were falling 4.25 points to 1468.75, and were 5.9 points below fair value.

The major indices put in their largest gains of the week on Thursday, offsetting steep losses from Monday and bringing them near neutral for the week. Ahead of Friday’s open, the Dow is down 0.8% and the S&P 500 is off by 0.1%, while the Nasdaq is up 0.1% for the week.

At 8:30 a.m. EDT, the Department of Commerce is expected to report a 0.3% increase in both personal income and spending for the month of May. Market watchers will also have their eye on the final University of Michigan consumer sentiment index reading for June, due out at 9:55 am EDT. A preliminary report earlier in the month showed that sentiment increased slightly to 69 from 68.7 in May.

In Friday’s headlines, Qantas Airways canceled orders for 15 Boeing 787s, or Dreamliners, and delayed the delivery of 15 additional aircraft due to turbulent market conditions. Qantas said the decision was unrelated to news earlier this week that Boeing had further delayed the aircraft’s first flight.

Also, troubled bank Citigroup has rubbed Japanese regulatory authorities the wrong way, the Wall Street Journal reported. For the second time in the last decade, the bank has been ordered to suspend sales activities at its retail businesses – from July 15 to August 14 – as it faces accusations of not doing enough to prevent money laundering.

In other bank news, Swiss bank UBS expects to report a second-quarter loss, albeit narrower than its first-quarter loss, and will raise about 3.8 billion Swiss francs, or roughly $3.49 billion, in a stock sale.

Meanwhile, crude oil futures were rising 83 cents to $71.06 after militants said they attacked a Royal Dutch Shell wellhead in Nigeria, raising concerns about supply.

The dollar weakened after China’s central bank called again for a “super-sovereign reserve currency,” and suggested the International Monetary Fund manage part of members’ foreign reserves.

Stocks overseas were mostly higher. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 and the Dax in Frankfurt were rising 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively. In Asia, the Nikkei in Japan added 0.8%, and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong closed 1.8% higher.

Longer-dated treasuries were mixed. The 10-year was losing 2/32 to yield 3.55%, while the 30-year added 2/32, yielding 4.33%.