Wall Street set to open down as security worries intensify
By Abhiram Nandakumar REUTERS - Wall Street was set to open lower on Tuesday as investors fled risky assets after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane, even as data pointed to stronger U.S. economic growth. The U.S. Commerce Department revised third-quarter GDP growth to an annual rate of 2.1 percent, in line with market expectations but up from 1.5 percent estimated previously. The data could give the Federal Reserve confidence to raise interest rates at its December meeting. Global security concerns intensified after Turkey said it shot down a Russian warplane that had violated its airspace near the Syrian border, and after the U.S. State Department issued a global travel alert for Americans. Crude oil prices were up more than 2 percent on the prospect of more turmoil in the Middle East. Gold also rose. Shares of travel website operators Priceline and TripAdvisor were down about 1.6 percent, while cruise operators Carnival Corp and Royal Carribean were down about 2 percent in premarket trade. Airline stocks were also down, with United Continental falling 1.8 percent, American Airlines 1.7 percent and Delta Air Lines 1.5 percent. At 8:37 a.m. ET (1337 GMT), Dow e-minis were down 109 points, or 0.61 percent, with 29,810 contracts traded. S&P 500 e-minis were down 13.5 points, or 0.65 percent, with 240,737 contracts exchanged, while Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 32.5 points, or 0.7 percent, on volume of 34,484 contracts. Investors are also awaiting U.S. consumer confidence data from the Conference Board due at 10.00 a.m. (1500 GMT). Sentiment is expected to have improved slightly in November. Tiffany was down 3.3 percent at $74 after it said it expected net earnings for the year to be 5 to 10 percent lower than last year. Campbell Soup was up 2.4 percent at $51 after its reported better-than-expected quarterly profit and raised its full-year profit forecast. Xerox was up 2.5 percent at $11.02 after Carl Icahn disclosed a 7.13 percent stake. Hewlett-Packard will release its last quarterly resu109lts as a single company after the close. (Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Ted Kerr)
