Stock futures flat after downbeat earnings

[October 25, 2017]   By Sruthi Shankar

(Reuters) - Wall Street looked set to open flat on Wednesday as the U.S. corporate earnings season hit its peak, with lackluster results for a handful of companies overnight including Chipotle Mexican Grill and AMD.

Chipotle Mexican Grill plummeted 10 percent in premarket trading after posting disappointing sales and earnings.

Advanced Micro Devices slumped 9.8 percent after the chipmaker gave revenue forecast that pointed to its first decline in seven quarters.

Visa <V.N> gained about 2 percent after reporting better-than-expected profit, helped by its purchase of Visa Europe and as more people made payments using its network.

Investors also focused on news around the nomination of the next Federal Reserve chief.

Republican senators were favoring Stanford University economist John Taylor over current Fed Governor Jerome Powell, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The dollar got a boost as Taylor is seen as someone who could put the Fed on a path of faster interest rate increases compared with current Fed Chair Janet Yellen.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., August 16, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

A Commerce Department report is likely to show new home sales numbers fell 0.9 percent to 555,000 units in September, compared with a 3.4 percent decrease to 560,000 units in August. The report is due at 8:30 a.m. ET (1230 GMT).

A separate report is expected to show new orders for U.S.-made capital goods rose 1 percent in September, slowing from August' s 2 percent.

Futures snapshot at 6:59 a.m. ET:

Dow e-minis were up 2 points, or 0.01 percent, with 17,722 contracts changing hands.

S&P 500 e-minis were down 2.25 points, or 0.09 percent, with 111,928 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 7.25 points, or 0.12 percent, on volume of 18,843 contracts.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

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