Fate of automakers looms over Wall Street

Any advance in stocks would be seen as a sign that stability is returning to Wall Street. Friday’s gain was the eighth for the Dow in 10 sessions, but stocks still finished lower for the week.

The Dow fell 2.2 percent, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 2.3 percent, and the Nasdaq composite index shed 1.7 percent.

On Sunday evening, major stock indexes were barely changed in futures trading as traders seemed unwilling to make bets. Dow Jones industrial average futures shed 24, or 0.28 percent, to 8,588. Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 2.90, or 0.33 percent, to 869.50; while Nasdaq-100 futures fell 3.25, or 0.28 percent, to 1,174.75.

The next few weeks might also shed some more light on how companies are faring during the fourth quarter, and that could trigger big swings for the market. In preparing to report fourth-quarter results in January, many companies might begin to issue warnings about their results.

Last week, a number of companies — including Merck & Co. and DuPont — trimmed guidance for what is expected to be another gloomy quarter.

And others might come this week. Earnings are expected from a number of major companies, including H&R Block Inc., AutoZone Inc., Kroger Co., and Costco Wholesale Corp.

Investors will also start to look for signs about what kind of losses financial companies like Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley might report.

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Ryan Larson, head of equities trading at Voyageur Asset Management, said many on Wall Street are keeping a close eye on financial stocks to help gauge any recovery for the market and the economy. For instance, Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. raised its full-year operating profit forecast and said the capital outlook at its insurance units was strong.

“The longer we can go without banks continuing to need to raise capital every single day, that’s going to be a good thing,” Larson said.

While some companies continue to tough out a brutal economy, others might turn toward dealmaking to weather the recession. There was speculation over the weekend that Deutsche Boerse AG, which runs the Frankfurt stock exchange, was in talks with NYSE Euronext about a possible deal.

The German bourse said late Sunday that any talks with the New York Stock Exchange, which also operates Paris-based Euronext, has “ended without any conclusion.” A spokesman for the NYSE would not comment.

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