U.S. index futures decline after equities come close to record
By Bloomberg
U.S. index futures declined, signaling equities will retreat after closing within 0.5 percent of a record, as investors weighed company earnings.
Texas Instruments Inc. slumped 5 percent and Qualcomm Inc. sank 4.1 percent in premarket New York trading after both forecast quarterly sales and profit below analysts’ estimates. Facebook Inc. slid 2 percent after missing revenue estimates for the first time since 2012. AT&T Inc. added 0.7 percent after reporting first-quarter earnings that topped projections.
E-mini contracts on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index expiring in June slid 0.2 percent to 2,096.75 at 10:25 a.m. in London, after earlier falling as much as 0.6 percent. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost 37 points, or 0.2 percent, to 17,908. Nasdaq 100 Index contracts also dropped 0.2 percent.
“Underlying revenues remain disappointing as they’re not helped by the ever stronger U.S. dollar,” said Lex Van Dam, a fund manager at Hampstead Capital LLP in London. “The rest of the world is doing its best to provide liquidity but consumer demand remains disappointing. The stock market is reflecting a lack of investment alternatives as opposed to a booming economy.”
Stocks rose toward records Wednesday, as technology shares jumped and Coca-Cola Co. and McDonald’s Corp. rallied after reporting earnings.
Eli Lilly & Co., Southwest Airlines Co., AbbVie Inc. and General Motors Co. are among 54 companies posting earnings Thursday. Microsoft Corp., Google Inc., Starbucks Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. report after markets close.
Of the S&P 500 members that have already released results this week, 78 percent beat profit projections and 49 percent topped sales estimates.
Earnings Forecasts
While analysts predict an earnings slump through September, they have moderated how steep that will be. They now forecast first-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies will drop 4.3 percent, better than April 10 estimates for a 5.6 percent decline.
Stocks worldwide fell Thursday amid weaker-than-estimated manufacturing reports from Japan to Germany. Data at 9:45 a.m. Washington time will show the preliminary Purchasing Managers’ Index from Markit Economics was 55.7 this month, unchanged from March, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
Separate reports will show a drop in initial jobless claims for the week ended April 18, and a slowdown last month in new- home sales, economist forecast.
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