Futures dip with indexes at records

[July 07, 2014] By Ryan Vlastelica

 NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged slightly lower on Monday, indicating a modest pullback from record levels as investors held off from making big plays ahead of the start to earnings season.

A strong June jobs report lifted Wall Street to multiple records on Thursday, the final trading session before the Independence Day holiday, with the Dow rising above 17,000 for the first time ever.

While the market's uptrend is still viewed as intact, trading may be light, with few major catalysts on deck. Action may pick up later this week with the release of results from Alcoa Inc <AA.N> and Wells Fargo & Co..

Dozens of major companies are scheduled to report next week, including numerous Dow components. Investors see a slight chance that profits for S&P 500 companies could return to double-digit growth for the first time in nearly three years.
 

S&P 500 e-mini futures fell 3.25 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average e-mini futures fell 23 points and Nasdaq 100 e-mini futures lost 6.5 points.

Wall Street has been strong lately, with major indexes hitting a series of records and the Nasdaq closing out its third straight positive week last week.

The CBOE Volatility index is down almost 25 percent so far this year, closing on Thursday at its lowest level since February 2007. The "fear index" is at extremely low levels from a historical perspective, which has some investors concerned that markets are not factoring in issues that could derail the rally.

While the June payroll report, which showed the U.S. unemployment rate falling to its lowest since September 2008, confirmed expectations that the economy bounced back in the second quarter, some analysts speculated that it also meant the Federal Reserve might raise interest rates earlier than had been previously anticipated.

In corporate news, GT Advanced Technologies  fell 6.4 percent to $18.30 in premarket trading after UBS removed the company from its U.S. Key Calls list. The stock was the Nasdaq's heaviest premarket mover.

Archer Daniels Midland said it would buy food flavors and specialty ingredients company Wild Flavors for about $3 billion.

(Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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