9:45AM U.S. stocks opened lower as Ford quarterly loss weighed.
U.S. stocks declined at opening after Ford (F: chart) posted a wider quarterly loss and said it would restate profit for the past five years. Shares of AT&T (T: chart) helped to limit losses on the Dow as the telecom operator reported stronger-than-expected quarterly profits, but eventually moved to the downside, dragged by the general weakness. Resource stocks moved lower along with commodities prices. Energy stocks, including ExxonMobil (XOM: chart) posted significant weakness in early trading, as a decline by the crude oil price generated some selling pressure. Similarly, the gold sector showed moved to the downside due to a substantial decline by the price of gold. nvestors are expected to trade cautiously ahead of the Fed's meeting on Wednesday. In early trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 20.41, or 0.17%, to 12,022.78. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 1.08, or 0.08%, to 1,367.52, and the Nasdaq composite index 1.05, or 0.04%, to 2,341.25. Bonds fell, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rising to 4.83% form 4.79% on Friday.


9:30AM The FTSE 100 slips on Monday due to lack of major corporate news.
The FTSE 100 in London was lower by mid-day on Monday. The FTSE 100 declined 10.6 points, or 0.1%, at 6,1446.

Advancers

Standard Chartered led the large-cap advancers, rising 2.6% supported by news that the Dubai state investment company could be looking to raise its stake in the bank to as much as 20%- at a cost of $7 billion.

Prudential gained 0.9% after UBS raised its price target on the life assurer. The broker suggested Prudential could merge with closed life fund consolidator Resolution, up 0.2%.

Decliners

Royal Dutch Shell declined 0.6% after it offered to buy the minority shares in Shell Canada. The oil producer, which already owns 78% of Shell Canada, said the proposal would value the fully diluted minority share capital.

Corus, fell 0.3%, was still the centre of bid speculation following a 5.1 billion pounds offer from Tata Steel of India on Friday. British Energy lost 1.1% ad Credit Suisse cut its price target on the stock.

In the pubs sector, Enterprise Inns fell 1.5% as UBS cut its rating on the chain from buy to neutral. Punch Taverns was also out of favour, down 1.6%, after the same bank cut its rating from neutral to reduce and decreased its price target.

Other news

The US Chemical Safety Board, the federal body charged with investigating the safety record of BP, is understood to have found at least eight previous dangerous incidents at Texas City.

Balfour Beatty and Carillion, the UK construction groups, have won the 363 million pound contract to extend the new East London rail line between Dalston Junction and West Croydon.


9:00AM Stock futures pointed to a mixed opening amid Ford and Xerox results.
U.S stock futures pointed to a mixed start on Monday as Ford reported disappointing results, while Xerox posted third-quarter net income increase. With little economic news due out today, investors will look ahead to a FOMC meeting Tuesday and the GDP data at the end of the week.

Ford Motor (F: chart) said it expects to report Q3 net loss of $5.8 billion, or $3.08 a share, compared to a loss of $284 million a year ago, due to its restructuring costs. Revenue rose to $3.84 billion from $3.76 billion. Analysts had expected it to earn 22 cents a share on revenue of $3.82 billion. Ford also plans to restate financial results from 2001 through the second quarter of 2006 because of errors in the accounting for derivative deals. Xerox (XRX: chart) posted Q3 profit rise of 54 cents a share, from 5 cents a share last year. Dow component AT&T (T: chart) reported Q3 earnings rise of $2.17 billion, or 56 cents a share, up from $1.25 billion, or 38 cents a share a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, earnings would have been 63 cents a share, above the average analyst estimate of 58 cents a share. The stock tacked on 1.5% to $34.94 in pre-opening hours.

Among other companies, reporting earnings today, Hasbro Inc. (HAS: chart), toymaker, said Q3 net income rose 8.2% to 58 cents a share on higher revenue of $1.04 billion from $988.1 million. The quarterly results beat estimates of 50 cents on $963 million of revenue. In corporate news, MetaSolv Software (MSLV: chart) surged 20% in pre-open trading after Oracle Corp. (ORCL: chart) said that it was buying MetaSolv in a deal worth $219.2 million, or $4.10 a share in cash. S&P 500 futures slipped 0.70 of a point to 1,374.20 while Nasdaq 100 futures were unchanged at 1,718.75. Dow industrials futures added 8 points at 12,056.


8:00AM Ford reported wider Q3 loss. The automaker will restate earnings.
Ford Motor (F: chart) reported Q3 wider profit loss of $5.8 billion, citing costs of a massive restructuring plan aimed at reducing its expenses. Ford''s net loss of $3.08 per share was larger than last year''s Q3 loss of $284 million, or 15 cents per share, and the largest since the fourth quarter of 1992 of $8.1 billion, which was due mainly to accounting changes. Ford''s plan aims to slash $5 billion in costs by the end of 2008 by cutting 10,000 white-collar workers and offering buyouts to all of its 75,000 unionized employees. The automaker said special charges for the third quarter of 2006 totaled $5.26 billion before taxes. Excluding restructuring costs, the company said it lost $1.2 billion, or 62 cents per share, from continuing operations. The quarterly results came in below analysts’ expectations of a loss of 61 cents per share. The company also said it gained $99 million due to the release of a reserve from excise taxes in South America.

Ford Motor also said it will restate its earnings for 2001 due to accounting errors related to derivative deals. The restatement is expected to effect financial results from 2001 until the third quarter of 2006. It is also expected to improve results for 2002. The company is expecting to complete the restatement by the time it files its 10Q for the September quarter.