Stock futures lower as rate hike looms, China fears linger

[November 10, 2015]  By Abhiram Nandakumar

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were lower on Tuesday, a day after Wall Street suffered its steepest drop in six weeks as investors braced for an interest-rate hike and fretted about China's economic health.

* China's October inflation data on Tuesday showed persisting if not intensifying deflationary pressure. That followed disappointing trade data out of the world's second-largest economy over the weekend.

* Global stocks ticked lower as the dollar rose to a seven-month high, bolstered by expectations that the U.S Federal Reserve will raise rates next month.

* U.S. stocks closed lower on Monday, with nine of the 10 major S&P sectors in the red and the Dow Jones industrial average slipping into negative territory for the year.

* The three major U.S. indexes are coming off a six-week rally buoyed by earnings reports that helped lift Wall Street sentiments. The S&P 500 is up 0.99 percent for the year.

* Nearly 90 percent of S&P 500 companies have reported quarterly results so far, with 70 percent beating profit estimates, according to Thomson Reuters data.

* Investors will now peruse data to gauge if the Fed will raise rates when it meets on Dec. 15-16, as is widely expected after Friday's strong jobs report.

* Gap's shares fell 4.3 percent to $26.50 premarket after its comparable sales fell more than expected in October.

* D.R. Horton  rose 2.6 percent to $29.51 after its quarterly profit jumped 44 percent.

* Barrett Business slumped 29 percent to $37.50 after its auditor found evidence of an illegal act regarding workers' compensation expense reserve.

* U.S. economic data scheduled for Tuesday includes October's import and export prices at 8:30 a.m. ET. Import prices are expected to have slipped 0.1 percent.

* Chicago Fed President Charles Evans and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew are slated to speak later in the day.

Futures snapshot at 7:27 a.m. ET:

* S&P 500 e-minis were down 5.25 points, or 0.25 percent, with 134,017 contracts traded.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 19 points, or 0.41 percent, on volume of 20,833 contracts.

* Dow e-minis were down 46 points, or 0.26 percent, with 19,996 contracts changing hands.

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

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