Stock futures lower after weak Chinese trade data

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[November 09, 2015] By Abhiram Nandakumar

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were slightly lower on Monday after weak Chinese trade data for October rekindled concerns about slowing global economic growth.

* Data showed China's October exports fell 6.9 percent, down for a fourth month, while imports slipped 18.8 percent, leaving the country with a record high trade surplus of $61.64 billion.

* Global stocks were subdued as they digested data that showed persistent weakness in demand globally. Traders said markets were struggling to find a clear direction and some profit taking was kicking in.

* U.S. stocks have posted higher weekly performances for six weeks in a row. Wall Street closed little changed on Friday, as a rise in financials offset a decline in utilities and other sectors, as Wall Street took a strong U.S. jobs report as evidence the Federal Reserve will soon raise interest rates.

* Traders are now expecting a 70 percent chance that the Fed will raise rates off near-zero levels in December, according to CME GRoup's FedWatch.

* With quarterly earnings season nearly wrapped up, investors will parse economic data for a picture of the state of the U.S. economy ahead of the Fed's meeting on Dec. 15-16.

* An increase in interest rates raises borrowing costs for companies, but is good for banks and other financial companies.

* Apache's shares <APA.N> were up 11 percent at $53 premarket after a Bloomberg report said the oil and gas company rejected a takeover approach from an unidentified party.

* Plum Creek Timber soared 18.8 percent to $47.88 after Weyerhaeuser said it would buy the company to create a $23 billion timber, land and forest products company. Weyerhaeuser was up 1.9 percent.

Futures snapshot at 7:07 a.m. ET:

* S&P 500 e-minis  were down 6.25 points, or 0.3 percent, with 109,814 contracts traded.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 11.25 points, or 0.24 percent, on volume of 17,993 contracts.

* Dow e-minis  were down 46 points, or 0.26 percent, with 15,160 contracts changing hands.

(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
 

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