U.S. stock futures are trading mixed this morning, pointing toward a somewhat positive open, despite weakness on the Nasdaq due to poorly received earnings from Hewlett-Packard (HPQ). The leading PC and computer peripherals manufacturer reported a 13% plunge in first-quarter earnings after the close last night. Other companies in focus this morning include Whole Foods market (WFMI), which is 16% higher ahead of the open following solid quarterly results, and Sprint Nextel (S), which gained about 3% in pre-market activity due to a narrowed quarterly loss. Wall Street's mood could shift dramatically, however, as key economic data, including the January producer price index (PPI), are slated for release later this morning.

Checking in on currencies and commodities, the U.S. Dollar Index is taking a breather following a strong rally earlier this week. At last check, the index was off 0.92% at 87.19 in pre-market activity. Gold futures, meanwhile, have gained a mere $2.40 an ounce to trade at $980.60 in London, with traders closely watching the equity markets for signs of strength. Finally, crude oil futures are on the mend, with the March contract up 3.32% at $35.77 per barrel in electronic trading.

After the close last night, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ: sentiment, chart, options) reported a fiscal first-quarter profit of $1.9 billion, or 75 cents per share, compared with a profit of $2.1 billion, or 80 cents per share, last year. Revenue rose 1% to $28.8 billion from $28.5 billion. Excluding 1-time items, HPQ earned 93 cents per share. Analysts were looking for earnings of 93 cents per share on $31.9 billion in sales. For its second quarter, the company expects earnings of 70 cents to 72 cents per share, or an adjusted 84 cents to 86 cents per share. Sales should fall 2% to 3% from a year earlier, which would equal $27.5 billion to $27.7 billion. The figures were well below the current consensus estimate for 89 cents per share on $30.95 billion in sales.

Whole Foods Market (WFMI: sentiment, chart, options) reported that net income fell 17% from the year-earlier quarter due to slowing store traffic and legal costs. Whole Foods posted a first-quarter profit of $32.3 million, or 20 cents per share, down from $39.1 million, or 28 cents per share, last year. However, earnings topped analyst expectations for 19 cents per share. Sales were flat at $2.5 billion. Comparable-store sales fell 4% compared with a 9% gain last year.

Finally, Sprint Nextel (S: sentiment, chart, options) said it lost $1.62 billion, or 57 cents per share, narrowing its loss from the same quarter last year of $29.31 billion, or $10.31 per share. Revenue for the quarter was $8.43 billion, compared to $9.85 billion. Analysts had expected sales of $8.55 billion. "In tough economic times, we're generating substantial cash and reducing costs to ensure we remain financially sound. We already have the cash on hand to be able to meet our debt service requirements at least through the end of 2010," said Dan Hesse, Sprint Nextel chief executive.

Earnings Preview

Today, Apache (APA), CVS Caremark (CVS), Newmont Mining (NEM), and Crocs (CROX) are slated to step into the earnings confessional. Keep your browser at SchaeffersResearch.com throughout the day for more.

Economic Calendar

On the economic front, the Street must digest the January producer price index (PPI), the core PPI, January's leading economic indicators, the February Philadelphia Fed's manufacturing index, and the weekly reports on U.S. petroleum supplies and jobless claims. We round out the week on Friday with the consumer price index (CPI) and the core CPI.

Market Statistics

Equity option activity on the CBOE saw 1,251,244 call contracts traded on Wednesday, compared to 1,098,962 put contracts. The resultant single-session put/call ratio slipped to 0.88, while the 21-day moving average held at 0.75.

**The volume data shown above is from the Nasdaq and NYSE exchanges only. It does not include regional volume activity, which means that other daily volume quotes you see may be higher.**

Stocks hold gains despite sluggish housing data

Investors were relieved Tuesday after a government report on the economy met expectations and eased their concerns that the recession is deepening.

The Commerce Department reported third-quarter gross domestic product, a measure of the economy that tallies the value of goods and services, fell at an annual rate of 0.5 percent. That was in line with analysts' expectations and matched the government's estimate of a month ago.

While the readings show further weakness, investors have likely already priced in very low expectations. The concern, however, is that the current quarter will be much worse.

The market was also able to get past a report that showed sales of new homes fell in November to the slowest pace in nearly 18 years, while new home prices dropped by the biggest amount in eight months.

New home sales fell by 2.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 407,000 units, a weaker performance than economists had expected and was the slowest sales pace since January 1991. The median price of a new home sold in November was $220,400, a drop of 11.5 percent from the sales price a year ago.

Trading volume was light, and is expected to remain so the rest of this week as investors head into the holidays. Analysts are mindful that light volume tends to skew the market's movements, and warned that this week may not suggest any long-term trends.

"Don't read too much into the numbers until the end of the day, we're really in a holding pattern right now," said Ryan Larson, head of equity trading at Voyageur Asset Management. "It is a very quiet news week, and much of it has already been priced into the market."

In late morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 20.87, or 0.24 percent, to 8,540.64.

Broader indexes were also higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 2.95, or 0.34 percent, to 874.58. The Nasdaq composite index added 6.58, or 0.43 percent, to 1,538.93. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 0.96, or 0.20 percent, to 474.11.

Advancing issues led decliners by 4 to 3 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 245 million shares.

Bond prices were little changed Tuesday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 2.15 percent from 2.17 percent late Monday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, was unchanged at 0.02 percent from late Monday.

In corporate news, greeting-card company American Greetings Corp. said it swung to a third-quarter loss, hurt by hefty charges and a decline in sales. Shares fell $3.00, or 30 percent, to $6.82.

Commercial financial firm CIT Group Inc. said Tuesday it received preliminary approval to obtain $2.33 billion as part of the government's $700 billion bank investment program.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.

Light, sweet crude fell 76 cents to $39.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 1.57 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 2.75 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 was up 1.05 percent, Germany's DAX index was up 1.11 percent, and France's CAC-40 was up 0.48 percent.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

Despite the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Richard Fuld can still negotiate a deal. For example: taking home $20 million on $13.5 million worth of sold art.

Click to enlarge

What:

Arshile Gorky ''Study For Agony 1'' Graphite, crayong and ink wash on paper 22 x 30 inches Executed in 1946-1947

Where:

Christie's, New York Post-War and Contemporary Evening Sale Nov. 12, 2008

How Much:

Pre-Auction Estimate: $2.2 - $2.8 million Final Selling Price: $2,210,500

Don't feel too bad for Richard Fuld, CEO--at least until the end of this year--of once-mighty Lehman Brothers. Despite the demise of his fabled Wall Street firm, Fuld still knows how to negotiate a good deal.

Take, for example, the sale earlier this month at Christie's of 16 works of art owned by Fuld and his wife, Kathy. The collection was expected to sell for between $15 and $20 million. Instead, it barely pulled in $13.5 million. However, the Fulds still made $20 million on the sale.

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Kathy Fuld, a trustee of the Museum of Modern Art, assembled the collection over the past 20 years and focused on buying drawings from the Abstract Expressionist movement of the 1940s and 1950s. She chose well and presumably had expert advice from MOMA curators.

But selling the group of drawings proved challenging--not only because the art markets has hit a major bump amid the economic gloom that, in some ways, was fueled by the failure of her husbands giant Wall Street firm--but also because Abstract Expressionist drawings are not an easy commodity to trade.

Drawings from this time period are esoteric and intellectually demanding. They require a connoisseur's eye. Most everyone understands works by a pop artist like Andy Warhol, but not everyone gets Arshile Gorky.

Still, the Gorky drawing was one of the few fiscal highlights of the works sold by the Fulds. Bought for $370,000 in 1996, the work sold comfortably within its estimate range for just over $2.2 million. The drawing, called ''Agony I,'' was made between 1946 and 1947 and is a study for a painting owned by MOMA.

At this period of his life, Gorky was a tortured soul, reeling from a fire that destroyed his studio and he was coping with cancer. His grief overwhelmed him one year later--he took his own life at the age of 44.