Home Price Index, Consumer Confidence, Treasury Auction

US equities are mixed in this morning’s future session after shares fell more than 1% on Monday. S&P 500 and Dow futures are each looking slightly up, but futures on the Nasdaq are slightly lower. 

Yesterday stocks fell in the absence of fresh economic data, but today should be a different ball game with the the Case-Shiller Home Price Index hitting markets half an hour before the open, and the Conference Board’s look at consumer confidence hitting markets an hour later.

After hitting a 12-month high at $82 per barrel last week, WTI Crude oil has been edging lower for the past few sessions. It currently is trading at $78.85 per barrel. Meanwhile, Spot Gold is also down $1.90 to $1040.90.

Yesterday’s session looked fruitful in the early hours as Verizon and Radioshack each posted positive Q3 earnings reports, but stocks fell just before lunch hour and never recovered. Part of the pessimism was related to comments from influential banking analysts Bove. Saying “2010 is going to be a tough year,” Bove downgraded several banks and recommended waiting two years.

Key Events Today:

The weekly retail sales indexes from the International Council of Shopping Centers and the Johnson Redbook are looking somewhat optimistic as the holiday period approaches. These indexes are decidedly second-tier, but they do offer a first take on consumer spending. 

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