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U.S. stock-index futures retreat as semiconductors, oil decline

16 April 2015 18:38 (UTC+04:00)
U.S. stock-index futures retreat as semiconductors, oil decline

By Bloomberg

U.S. stock-index futures fell, after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index neared a record, as semiconductors slumped and oil declined for the first time in six days.

SanDisk Corp. sank 7 percent after predicting 2015 sales that fell short of analysts’ estimates. Denbury Resources Inc. dropped 1 percent after energy companies climbed to the highest level since November yesterday. Netflix Inc. surged 11 percent as it reported a jump in quarterly subscribers. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. added 0.4 percent as results topped estimates.

E-mini futures on the S&P 500 expiring in June fell 0.4 percent to 2,092.50 at 8:34 a.m. in New York. The underlying gauge advanced yesterday to within 0.5 percent of a record.

“The weaker weather in the first quarter could impact companies and results could be soft,” said Louis de Fels, a Paris-based fund manager at Raymond James Financial Inc., which oversees about $53 billion. “We think they’ll rebound in the second quarter. A lot of U.S. companies who are big exporters will be impacted by the U.S. dollar but there are many local companies who make most of their money in the U.S.”

The S&P 500 has advanced 2.3 percent this year, trailing benchmark gauges in all developed markets tracked by Bloomberg except Greece, with the Federal Reserve set to raise rates this year.


Trading Range


The index has been stuck in a range of 52 points since March 20 when it last neared its record, as weaker-than-forecast data from hiring to manufacturing elevated concern about earnings while at the same time bolstered the case for keeping interest rates lower for longer.

The Nasdaq Composite Index has jumped 5.8 percent this year, coming on March 20 within 7 points of its all-time high as biotechnology and Internet stocks have rallied. The Dow closed Wednesday 1 percent away from its all-time high set March 2.

Fourteen companies report quarterly results today. Analysts predict earnings for S&P 500 companies fell 5.6 percent in the first quarter, cutting projections amid concern over a surging dollar and worse-than-forecast economic reports.


Economic Data


Investors are also watching economic reports for clues on the timing of the Fed’s first rate increase since 2006. Beginning U.S. home construction rose less than forecast in March, indicating builders were slow to take advantage of favorable weather and underscoring a temperate housing recovery.

Data showed starts climbed 2 percent to a 926,000 annualized rate from a revised 908,000 in February that was the weakest in more than a year. The March reading was less than the most pessimistic projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Applications for future construction dropped more than forecast on fewer permits for multifamily homes, the Commerce Department report showed.

Fewer than 300,000 American workers filed applications for unemployment benefits for the sixth consecutive week, another report showed, pointing to labor-market strength even as hiring cooled last month.

While a Labor Department report in Washington Thursday showed jobless claims increased by 12,000 to 294,000 in the week ended April 11, readings this low are typically consistent with an improving job market. The median forecast of 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 280,000. The total number of people currently receiving benefits was the lowest since 2000.

Oil fell for the first time in six days after Saudi Arabia led a surge in OPEC production, with West Texas Intermediate down 1.4 percent. Even with today’s decline, U.S. crude has surged 16 percent in April, sending oil companies in the S&P 500 toward their best month since January 2013.

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