Stock futures fall after personal spending data

Stocks headed toward a lower opening Friday after the government said personal incomes fell by the biggest amount in nearly three years and consumer spending slowed.

Investors also charted the path of Tropical Storm Gustav.

The Commerce Department said personal incomes fell by 0.7 percent in July — well beyond the drop of 0.1 percent that analysts polled by Thomson IFR had predicted on average. That reflects the waning impact of tax rebate checks that Americans received this spring.

As expected, the government also said consumer spending rose a modest 0.2 percent. That was below the 0.6 percent increase seen in June and, accounting for rising prices, spending actually fell by 0.4 percent in July.

Wall Street has been particularly concerned about Americans' ability to help the economy grow, since rising prices for gas and food have strapped many household budgets.

Meanwhile, investors were watching Gustav heading toward the Gulf of Mexico and its oil installations.

Light, sweet crude oil rose $2.16 to $117.75 in premarket trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. So far, oil trading has been fairly orderly as the storm progresses, although there is concern about damage from Gustav or a disruption in the flow of gasoline and other fuel from Gulf Coast refineries.

There was also some uneasiness on the Street after Dell Inc. released earnings late Thursday that missed analyst expectations. Dell fell 10 percent in premarket electronic trading.

Still, while the market had some concerns Friday, with the Dow Jones industrials having risen more than 200 points Thursday, some pullback was to be expected given the fractious nature of trading lately.

Dow futures were down 22, or 0.18 percent, at 11,673, while Standard & Poor's 500 futures were down 2.60, or 0.20 percent, at 1,295.50. Nasdaq 100 futures were down 1.5, or virtually unchanged, at 1,904.0.

Treasury prices showed little movement. The 10-year note's yield, which moves opposite its price, fell 3.78 percent from 3.79 percent late Thursday.

The dollar was mixed against other currencies, while gold prices rose.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei index rose 2.39 percent. In afternoon trading in Europe, London's FTSE-100 index rose 1.32 percent, the CAC-40 index in Paris rose 0.38 percent and Frankfurt's DAX fell 1.57 percent.

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