O petróleo está em queda, mas a incerteza continua em alta

[James Wheat]

Para mim é aqui, já esta semana: se os resultados na banca acusam o impacto que todos intimamente esperam, vai-se assistir a uma queda nos índices a nível global, pelo peso que o sector tem.

"PARIS, Sept 18 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks index futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Tuesday but investors could remain on the sidelines ahead of the Federal Reserve's rate decision and statement as well as quarterly results from Lehman Brothers .
At 0916 GMT, December Standard & Poor's 500 futures were up 0.13 percent, while Dow Jones futures were up 0.11 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.09 percent.
Lehman will be the first major investment bank to report third-quarter results, kicking off one of the most closely watched U.S. brokerage earnings season.
Investors will be looking at the extent of the damage from the crisis in the subprime mortgage market and the credit crunch.
Morgan Stanley will follow on Wednesday, while Bear Stearns and Goldman Sachs are due to report on Thursday.
U.S. stocks retreated on Monday, driven lower by financial shares, as a rush by savers to withdraw deposits at a large British mortgage lender fuelled concerns that trouble in the credit markets would spread.
Lines of angry customers outside branches of Britain's Northern Rock fanned worries that a crisis of confidence could hit other major financial institutions around the world.
On Tuesday, shares in Northern Rock and other European financial institutions bounced back as investors were reassured by the British government's pledge to guarantee all deposits held by Northern Rock.
Fears that trouble in the risky subprime mortgage market could weigh on banks' results and dampen economic growth sparked waves of selling on equity markets worldwide over the past two months.
The Fed slashed its discount rate in mid-August in an emergency move aimed at boosting liquidity in the credit market and reassuring jittery investors.
Wall Street expects the Fed to cut in benchmark federal funds rate on Tuesday by at least 25 basis points, although some analysts say the cut could be 50 basis points.
Investors will also comb through the accompanying statement for clues on the outlook for the U.S. economy and future interest rate decisions.
The Fed decision is expected at 1815 GMT.
A report earlier this month showing a surprise sharp fall in U.S. jobs data in August cemented expectations for a rate cut. The Fed may also take additional measures to ease a crunch in the credit market.
"We do not expect the Fed to come back with another rapid-fire cut after today so while we'd see the Fed reassuring the market that it will ease if conditions warrant, we do not expect some sort of 'bias to ease' like the 'bias to tighten' that we had from mid 2004 to mid 2006, when the Fed hiked 25 bp every meeting," Bear Stearns analysts wrote in a note.
Also on Tuesday, the U.S. headline producer price index is expected at 1230 GMT.
Among individual stocks, online brokerage E*Trade Financial Corp. dropped 8.5 percent after the closing bell on Monday as it warned that it expected full-year earnings per share to be sharply below its previous forecasts."