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Investors this week will also be closely
watching the results of the two-day U.S. Federal Reserve
meeting, starting Tuesday, for clues on when interest rates
could be hiked.
Strong results from tech giants pushed the Nasdaq to end at
5,092.09 on Friday, its second straight record high close. The
S&P 500 rose 0.23 percent to a record high close of 2,117.69
points, just above its previous high of 2,117.39 set on March 2.
While markets are at record highs, March-quarter earnings of S&P
500 companies are expected to dip 1.3 percent, with revenue
dropping 3.5 percent as a strong dollar hurts U.S.
multinationals and low oil prices weigh on energy companies,
according to Thomson Reuters data.
Applied Materials slumped 8.3 percent to $20 in premarket
trading after the chipmaker's proposed $10 billion merger with
Tokyo Electron was abandoned over U.S. regulatory concerns.
Celladon plunged 77.6 percent to $3.06 after the company said
its heart failure gene therapy, Mydicar, failed to meet its main
goals in an important trial.
Time Warner Cable gained 1.1 percent to $157 on news that
Charter Communications' representatives had reached out to
begin discussions on a potential merger. Comcast on Friday
dropped its plans to merge with Time Warner Cable.
Earnings expected on Monday include General Growth Properties
and Hartford Financial Services.
Data expected includes U.S. services sector numbers for April
from financial firm Markit at 9:45 a.m. EDT.
World shares hit a new high, led by China, though the rally
faded in Europe as investors looked ahead to central bank
meetings in the United States and worried over Greece.
Futures snapshot at 7:20 EDT:
S&P 500 e-minis were up 4.5 points, or 0.21 percent, with
107,805 contracts changing hands.
Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 12.25 points, or 0.27 percent,
on volume of 18,474 contracts.
Dow e-minis were up 46 points, or 0.26 percent, with
18,632 contracts changing hands.
(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
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