Stock
futures drop ahead of retail sales, consumer sentiment
data
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[November 13, 2015]
By Abhiram Nandakumar
(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were
slightly lower on Friday, a day after a sharp selloff that saw S&P 500
and the Dow close below a key technical level, and ahead of retail sales
and consumer sentiment data, amid growing concerns of a slowdown in
demand.
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* Wall Street suffered its worst session in over a month on Thursday
as lower commodity prices weighed on energy and materials stocks and
comments by a Federal Reserve policymaker hinted at an approaching
interest-rate hike.
* The Dow and S&P 500 closed below their 200-day moving averages,
which some traders believe portends additional declines.
* Concerns of a global economic slowdown continued to weigh on
commodity prices on Friday, but crude prices recovered slightly from
a sharp drop on Friday. [O/R]
* U.S. companies, already faced with a potential rate hike in
December and a strong dollar, have been reporting signs of slowing
demand.
* Cisco, late on Thursday, said order growth was slowing and its
enterprise business outside the United States was weakening.
Department store chain Nordstrom <JWN.N> followed Macy's <M.N> in
cutting its full-year forecast.
* Dow component Cisco's <CSCO.O> shares fell 5 percent to $26.42
premarket after the network equipment maker forecast adjusted profit
and revenue growth below estimates.
* Nordstrom <JWN.N> sank 20.75 percent to $50.30 after its weak
results and forecast. Fossil <FOSL.O> dropped 19.6 percent to $41.06
after the watchmaker said sales in the holiday quarter could fall as
much as 16 percent.
* Economic data due on Friday is expected to show that U.S. retail
sales rose 0.3 percent in October after inching up 0.1 percent in
September. The data is due at 8:30 a.m. ET.
* Also scheduled for the same time is the Labor Department's
producer price index for October, which is expected to have gained
0.2 percent, after falling 0.5 percent in September.
* The University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index
is forecast to have risen to 91.5 in November. The data is slated
for release at 10:00 a.m.
* With 90 percent of the S&P 500 companies having reported quarterly
results, investors will turn their focus to economic data for a
clearer picture of the state of the economy ahead of the Fed's
meeting in December.
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* The central bank is widely expected to lift rates off near-zero
levels, as economic data appears to support its view that the
economy was strong enough to withstand higher rates.
* Perrigo dropped 8.3 percent to $143.50 after Reuters reported that
Mylan's $26 billion hostile bid for generic drug maker was not
likely to succeed. Mylan was up 8.8 percent at $47.10.
* Yum Brands rose 4.7 percent to $70.25 after its same-store sales
in China grew 5 percent in October.
Futures snapshot at 6:47 a.m. ET:
* S&P 500 e-minis were down 5 points, or 0.25 percent, with 141,220
contracts traded.
* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 17.5 points, or 0.38 percent, on
volume of 19,893 contracts.
* Dow e-minis were down 50 points, or 0.29 percent, with 18,090
contracts changing hands.
(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio
D'Souza)
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