Dow set to open below 16,000; Apple rises NEW YOR

Dow set to open below 16,000 ; Apple rises
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock futures dropped on Tuesday, undercut by escalating concerns the Federal Reserve could move to scale back its bond-buying program soon.

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) rose in premarket trade after a broker upgrade, while auto makers such as Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) and General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM) could react to sales numbers. See stocks to watch.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (CBE JZ3) fell 62 points, or 0.4%, to 15,936, indicating the index could open below the psychologically important 16,000 level.

S&P 500 index futures (GLC:SPZ3) lost 4.7 points, or 0.3%, to 1,795. Nasdaq 100 futures (GLC:NDZ3) fell 4 points to 3,479.

“The market has been a little confused over the last 24 hours, not helped by the stronger-than-expected ISM [manufacturing index on Monday] providing further fuel to the December taper flame,” Jim Reid, strategist at Deutsche Bank, wrote in a note.

The better-than-expected rise in the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index raised worries that the Federal Reserve may scale back, or taper, its bond-buying program as soon as December. U.S. stocks ended lower on Monday after spending most of the session near unchanged. The Dow industrials (DJI JIA) closed down 77.64 points, or 0.5%, to 16,008.77, while the S&P 500 index (SNC:SPX) fell 4.91 points, or 0.3%, to close at 1,800.90.

Investors are concerned whether the record run for stocks has gotten too extended.

“The best thing for markets longer term is to have sustainable growth and a normalization in monetary policy,” Reid said. “However, over the next 6-12 months we think markets would perform notably better if sub-trend but positive growth and high liquidity continued.”

“The latter scenario would be much less healthier longer term, though, as asset prices would deviate further from fundamentals, leaving gap risk between the two,” he added. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dow-set-to-o...beforebell