Futures under stress as tech selloff continues

[December 06, 2017]   By Sruthi Shankar

(Reuters) - U.S. stock futures pointed to losses at the open on Wednesday as high-flying technology stocks fell for the fourth day on worries over lofty valuations and the impact of a tax overhaul on corporate earnings.

* The Nasdaq Composite index lost 1.6 percent in the past three days, its worst such fall in more than three months.

* Tech giants Apple, Microsoft <MSFT.O>, Facebook <FB.O> were all down between 0.53 percent and 0.73 percent in premarket trading.

* Other major decliner was Home Depot <HD.N>, which lost more than 1 percent after the home improvement chain announced a $15 billion share repurchase plan.

* The S&P technology index <.SPLRCT> has risen about 34 percent this year and was down nearly 4 percent over the past week as investors shifted money to banks, retailers and other stocks that could benefit the most from corporate tax cuts.

* The bill passed on Saturday by Republican senators included a last-minute change to retain the corporate alternative minimum tax, or AMT, which had initially been removed.

* Including the AMT could negate parts of the bill seen as beneficial to tech companies and other corporations.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the opening bell in New York, U.S., December 5, 2017. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

* The ADP National Employment Report, due at 8:15 a.m. ET (1345 GMT), is expected to show U.S. private employers added 185,000 jobs in November, compared with a gain of 235,000 jobs in previous month.

* Among other early movers, Bill Barret <BBG.N> slipped more than 11 percent after the oil and gas producer agreed to buy Fifth Creek Energy for about $649 million.

* AeroVironment <AVAV.O> surged 23.5 percent after the drone maker reported surprise quarterly profit, helped by higher gross margin.

Futures snapshot at 7:00 a.m. ET:

* Dow e-minis <1YMc1> were down 29 points, or 0.12 percent, with 25,990 contracts changing hands.

* S&P 500 e-minis <ESc1> were down 2.5 points, or 0.1 percent, with 169,943 contracts traded.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis <NQc1> were down 24.25 points, or 0.39 percent, on volume of 46,300 contracts.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

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