Worries about the U.S. government’s credit ratings eased on Friday, however stocks couldn’t stay in positive territory heading into the holiday weekend. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 14.81, or 0.2 %, to 8,277.32. The S&P 500 index slipped 1.33, or 0.2 %, to 887.00, and the Nasdaq composite index lost 3.24, or 0.2 %, to 1,692.01. In other trading, the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 3.60, or 0.8%, to 477.62.All the major indices finished the five-day period just barely in the black. The Dow rose 0.10%; the S&P 500 index rose 0.47 %; and the Nasdaq rose 0.71 %.

The yield on the 10-year finished Friday at 3.446 %, a sharp increase from 3.125% the week earlier; while another $101 billion in government debt will be auctioned off this week and watched closely by investors.

Morning Outlook

A day after its nuclear test, North Korea test fired two additional missiles. The potential global unrest sent financial markets lower on Tuesday. Overnight in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average fell 36.19 points, or 0.4%, to 9,310.81, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 130.26 points, or 0.8%, to 16,991.56

In mid morning trading in Europe, Germany’s DAX 30 was 1.9% lower at 4,824.84, a drop of 93.61. Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 46.55, or 1.07% at 4,318.74 while France’s CAC 40 fell 51.06 points, 1.58% at 3,185.10.

After being closed for Memorial Day, Wall Street looks to start the week negative. Ahead of premarket housing data and early morning confidence measures, Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 37, or 0.5%, to 8,223. Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 6.20, or 0.7%, at 878.70. Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 15.75, or 1.1%, to 1,345.25.

Economic Calendar

9:00 AM
S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index: Tracks the monthly change in home values throughout 20 varying metropolitan regions within country. The composite indexes and the regional indexes are seen by the markets as measuring changes in existing home prices and are based on single-family home resales. The whole objective of the White House’s housing initiative is to stabilize home prices and sure up property values so individuals, cities and towns do not continue being pulled under by the economic crisis.

10:00 AM
Consumer Confidence: A survey of consumer attitudes on present economic conditions and expectations of future conditions for the month of May. The consensus reading for the month is 43, up from last month’s reading of 39.2. However with gas prices rising alongside unemployment, we may see that number surprise on the low end of the 40-48 range.

10:00 AM
State Street Investor Confidence Index: Measures confidence by looking at actual levels of risk in investment portfolios. The figure indicates, for a given set of fundamentals, whether or not investors are bullish or bearish on assets with different risk levels.