Stock Futures Down Ahead of Retail Sales

Stocks were poised to open lower Thursday as investors, eager to see how much U.S. consumers are paring back their spending, waited for sales figures from the nation´s major retailers.

Wall Street was also awaiting Labor Department data on last week´s unemployment claims, a Commerce Department report the international trade deficit and speeches by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

Traders appeared cautious ahead of Thursday´s scheduled events, particularly as oil prices stayed near record highs, banks revealed more troubles with the credit markets and reports on first-quarter earnings disappointed.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. disclosed in a regulatory filing Wednesday that it liquidated three funds because of the tight credit markets and bought the assets of those funds, valued at $1 billion, on Feb. 29. The investment bank said it also purchased deteriorated assets valued at $800,000 from other funds.

Meanwhile, Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., the home furnishings retailer, said late Wednesday its first-quarter profit would come in below the average analyst estimate.

Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 51, or 0.41 percent, to 12,521. Standard & Poor´s 500 index futures fell 5.00, or 0.37 percent, to 1,355.30. Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 8.00, or 0.44 percent, to 1,829.25.

Stocks had fallen Wednesday after a surge in oil prices and a profit warning from United Parcel Service Inc.

In other corporate news, Yahoo Inc. and Time Warner Inc.´s AOL are close to a deal to combine their Internet operations, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources. The deal is aimed at thwarting Microsoft Corp.´s effort to buy Yahoo.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.46 percent from 3.48 percent late Wednesday.

Light sweet crude rose 83 cents to $111.70 a barrel in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Gold prices rose, and the dollar fell against other major currencies.

Overseas, Japan´s Nikkei stock average dropped 1.27 percent. Britain´s FTSE 100 fell 0.71 percent, Germany´s DAX index fell 1.37 percent, and France´s CAC-40 fell 1.32 percent.

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