(RTTNews) - US stocks were poised to kick off the holiday shortened week on a lackluster note Monday morning in New York as traders moved to the sidelines ahead of Tuesday’s reports on housing and personal income and spending.

As of 6:15 am ET, the S&P Futures were down 3 points, the NASDAQ Futures were down 5 points, and the Dow Futures were down 29 points.

While stocks showed a strong upward move in early trading on Friday on the news of a government bailout of the auto industry, the markets gave back some ground over the course of the day. The major averages eventually ended the session turning in a mixed performance.

The Bush administration revealed that it is stepping in to bail out the struggling U.S. auto industry, allowing for short-term government loans to be drawn from the $700 billion financial rescue package.

Monday, Japanese auto giant Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) slashed its fiscal 2009 earnings forecast drastically, mainly reflecting wider-than-expected slowdown in the automotive market, and further appreciation of the yen.

The company said it now expects an operating loss, which reportedly would be its first annual operating loss in 71 years, and also lowered net revenues as well as vehicle sales forecast, mainly reflecting lower North American sales outlook. Separately, Toyota issued its projection for calendar year 2008, expecting lower sales, production, and exports from Japan.

Pharmacy chain Walgreen Co. (WAG) is scheduled to release its results for the first quarter of fiscal 2009 Monday before the market opens. Analysts expect earnings of $0.46 per share for the quarter, the same as last year, despite a 7% increase in revenues.

Micron Technology (MU) and American Greetings (AM) are among the other companies that are due to release their quarterly results this week.

Asian stocks were mixed on Monday as the Hang Seng of Hong Kong slipped 3.3 percent and Tokyo’s Nikkei added 1.4 percent.

In European intraday dealing, the FTSE of the UK was down 1 percent, the DAX of Germany was down 1.8 percent, and the CAC of France was down 1.5 percent.

The price of oil was stable near $42 a barrel in early electronic dealing Monday morning.

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Posted in Categories: Economy, Eurozone, Japan, Releases, UK, USA.

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