NEW YORK ( Reuters) - U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower market open on Thursday on persistent concerns over global inflation and further signs of a deterioration of the U.S. housing market.þþStocks fell on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq posting its sharpest drop in seven weeks, as investors dumped shares on signs that wage inflation may force the Federal Reserve to lift interest rates again.þþ``Inflation fears around the world are being highlighted,'' said Peter Cardillo, chief market analyst and chief strategist at SW Bach and Co. in New York, citing Wednesday's news of higher-than-expected labor costs and comments from the European Central Bank on increasing inflation risks.þþWhile risks to the growth outlook were balanced in the short term, inflation risks pointed up, said Yves Mersch, an ECB Governing Council member.þþInflation pressures were chiefly due to the impact of high oil prices and wage rises.þþHome builder KB Home (KBH.N) cut its forecast on Wednesday while rival Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. (HOV.N) reported a second straight quarter of declining earnings and orders.þþS&P 500 futures (SPc1) were down 4.10 points, below fair value, a mathematical formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract.þþDow Jones industrial average futures (DJc1) fell 30 points, and Nasdaq 100 (NDc1) futures dropped 3.75 points.þþShares of KB, which had closed down more than 3 percent on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, fell another 5.5 percent to $38.15 in electronic trading.þþHovnanian reported fiscal third-quarter net income that fell about 36 percent, while orders declined 26 percent. Its shares rose 2.1 percent in electronic trading after the market closed.þþA report commissioned by Merck & Co.'s (MRK.N) board said on Wednesday the drug maker's top executives did not knowingly put patients at risk in developing and marketing Vioxx, the popular arthritis drug withdrawn after a study showed it increased heart risks.þþIn economic data, traders will pour over initial jobless claims for the week and wholesale inventories for July.þþAt the same time, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Janet Yellen will speak at 2:40 p.m. New York time (1840 GMT).þþ
Source: NY Times
