LDN - Business

Wall Street on track to open higher

[August 18, 2017] By Sruthi Shankar

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks looked set to open slightly higher on Friday, a day after the S&P posted its biggest daily percentage loss in about three months amid concerns over President Donald Trump's ability to legislate his pro-growth agenda.

Trump has alienated Republicans, corporate leaders and U.S. allies, while rattling markets with his comments since Saturday's violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, which came in the aftermath of a white nationalist protest against the removal of a Confederate statue.

Several business leaders have since resigned from his advisory councils and a White House official said plans for an infrastructure council had been dropped.

Adding to the woes were a speculation of a possible departure of National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, which was denied by the White House.

"The selloff we saw yesterday was hardly a crash for a market that has gone up a lot," said Matthew Peterson, chief wealth strategist at LPL Financial in Charlotte, North Carolina.

"Even if we get a 5 or 7 percent correction, it is much more likely to be a buying opportunity, simply because of the positive fundamental backdrop."

Trump's campaign promises of tax cuts and higher infrastructure spending had helped the market rally, with the S&P climbing 13.6 percent since the Nov. 8 presidential election.

At 8:33 a.m. ET (1233 GMT), Dow e-minis <1YMc1> were up 10 points, or 0.05 percent, with 29,146 contracts changing hands.

S&P 500 e-minis <ESc1> were up 3 points, or 0.12 percent, with 292,422 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis <NQc1> were up 22.75 points, or 0.39 percent, on volume of 54,932 contracts.

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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., August 17, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Earlier in the week, minutes from the Federal Reserve's July meeting showed officials were concerned about recent inflation readings that remain below the Fed's 2 percent target rate, clouding the path of interest rate hikes this year.

Dallas Fed Chief Robert Kaplan will speak at an event later in the day. Kaplan, a policymaker in the Fed's cautious camp, said on Thursday the Fed should be "very patient and judicious" as it considers whether to raise rates.

Economic reports on Friday include the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment survey data for August due at 10:00 a.m. ET (1400 GMT).

Shares of Estee Lauder were up 3.69 percent in premarket trading after the cosmetics maker's full-year profit forecast came ahead of estimates.

Deere was down about 9 percent despite reporting a better-than-expected quarterly profit and raising earnings forecast.

Applied Materials was up 3.41 percent after the company's quarterly profit beat estimates, helped by strong growth in its semiconductor and display businesses.

Foot Locker was set to open at near 3-1/2 year low after reporting lower-than-expected profit and sales.

NYSE-listed shares of India's Infosys fell more than 6 percent after chief executive, Vishal Sikka, resigned.

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

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