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Wall Street started November on a cautious note
Monday, with stock futures wavering ahead of readings on
manufacturing activity, construction spending and auto sales.
      

Investors are already prepared for the day's reports to support
the growing belief that the economy is in recession, hurt by tight
credit and slow consumer spending. The question is whether the data
will indicate the economy is in even more dire shape than the Dow
Jones industrial average has priced in after tumbling more than 14
percent in October - its worst month in 21 years.
      

The Institute for Supply Management is expected to report that
the manufacturing sector contracted in October faster than it did
in September, while the Commerce Department is expected to report
that construction spending dropped 0.8 percent in September
following a flat reading for August, according to economists
surveyed by Thomson/IFR.
      

Analysts are also anticipating extremely weak vehicle sales
figures from the auto industry for October - even more anemic than
in September, when automakers said fewer than 1 million vehicles
were sold for the first time in 15 years.
      

Ahead of the market's open Monday, Dow futures fell 27, or 0.29
percent, to 9,271, after moving in and out of positive territory.
Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 2.60, or 0.27 percent, to
964.70, while Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 1.75, or 0.13 percent,
to 1,338.75.
      

Given how far the stock market has already tumbled, analysts
believe the market is showing signs of bottoming out. Last month,
for all its problems, did end with a positive tone, thanks in large
part to weeks of gradual improvement in the tight credit markets,
but also because mutual funds were finished with selling at the end
of their fiscal year. The Dow added 11.3 percent last week, its
best weekly performance in 34 years, while the S&P 500 index
climbed 10.5 percent.
      

On Monday, the interbank lending rate known as Libor fell to
2.86 percent for three-month dollar loans - that's down from 3.03
percent Friday, and the lowest level since Sept. 17. A fall in the
London Interbank Offered Rate indicates that banks are more willing
to lend to one another.
      

Investors' demand for short-term government debt remained high,
however. The yield on the three-month Treasury bill, seen as one of
the safest assets around, rose only slightly to 0.48 percent from
0.43 percent Friday. A low yield indicates high demand.
      

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was at 3.93
percent, down from 3.96 percent late Friday.
      

Trading is expected to be light Monday, with many investors
sitting on the sidelines ahead of Tuesday's presidential election.
Many analysts have said that in general, neither candidate is more
favored than the other on Wall Street, but investors are eager to
put the uncertainty behind them.
      

On Monday, the dollar was lower against most other major
currencies, while gold prices rose.
      

Light, sweet crude fell $1.13 to $66.68 a barrel in premarket
electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
      

Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.17 percent, Germany's DAX
index rose 0.50 percent, and France's CAC-40 advanced 0.12 percent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 2.7 percent. Japan's stock
market was closed for a holiday.
      

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Business and Economic News

Wall Street started November on a cautious note
Monday, with stock futures wavering ahead of readings on
manufacturing activity, construction spending and auto sales.

Stocks head for mixed open ahead of economic data

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