U.S. MARKET AVERAGES

Stock futures are trading in the negative territory in the first hour after the opening of Tuesday session as crude-oil prices increased $1.40 in early trading. Investors’ relief that Hurricane Katrina had caused less damages than expected was replaced by concerns that tight oil supplies could be further constraint after damages had been assessed. According to estimates, it killed at least 55 people and caused insured losses of approximately $26 billion.

In the first hour of trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 34.31, or 0.33 percent, to 10,428.74.

Bonds rose as stocks fell, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note falling to 4.15 % from 4.17 % late Monday.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Insurance stocks led the decliners on hurricane damages assessment.
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[Hartford Financial Services Group fell 16 cents to $73.18; Allstate Corp. fell 35 cents to $56.83 and MetLife Inc. fell 1 cent to $49.11.

The airline sector also dropped.

AMR Corp. fell 15 cents to $18.70; Northwest Airlines Corp. fell 2 cents to $5.17 and Delta Air Lines fell 1 cent to $1.26.

Oil companies are among the gainers on the back of rising crude.

Exxon Mobil Corp. rose 10 cents to $58.52; Chevron Corp. rose 20 cents to $59.71; ConocoPhillips rose 43 cents to $63.50 and Valero Energy Corp. rose 87 cents to $92.75.

Some gaming stocks fell again as casino operators assessed the damage to their Gulf Coast properties.

Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. fell 28 cents to $21.79. Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. fell 44 cents to $23.

ECONOMIC NEWS

Consumer confidence surprisingly advanced to 105.6 in August from a revised 103.6 in July,according to the Conference Board. The news came unexpected for many economists, who forecasted confidence to decline due to the surging oil prices in the recent months.

Factory orders lost 1.9% in July, a smaller-than-expected drop.

Later today the Federal Open Market Committee will release the minutes of its meeting on Aug 9 which is likely to give some clues about the central bank rate-hiking.

INTERNATIONAL MARKET NEWS

Asian-Pacific benchmarks finished generally higher, boosted by easing oil prices and recovered U.S. markets with rallying steel, shipping and bank shares. The Nikkei rose 1.16% despite some disappointing economic news, lifted by exporter issues on the back of retreating oil prices to $67.97 a barrel. Among the other regional markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.6%, South Korea’s Kospi added 0.9%, while China stocks lost 0.7% on blue chips sell-off.

European markets traded in the positive territory at mid-day as crude-oil prices fell off record highs and as South African insurance company Old Mutual announced having bid talks with Swedish insurer Skandia Forsakring. Crude-oil stayed above $68 a barrel sending BP up 1%. Oil-sensitive airline companies and carmakers made gains. The German DAX 30 rose 0.3%, the French CAC 40 added 0.3%, and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 gained 0.5%.

ENERGY, METALS AND CURRENCIES MARKETS