Deficit doubts on tax bill cool Wall Street rally

[December 01, 2017]   By Sruthi Shankar

(Reuters) - U.S. stock futures pointed to a reversal of some of this week's gains for Wall Street on Friday as a delay in voting on a Republican tax overhaul kept investors on edge about its passage.

Dow <1YMc1>, S&P 500 <ESc1> and Nasdaq <NQc1> futures pointed to falls of between a third and three-quarters of a percent.

The U.S. Senate debated the bill late into Thursday and adjourned as fiscal conservatives were unsettled about the effect on the deficit of the bill. It was unclear if a decisive vote on the bill would occur then. [nL1N1O00VD]

A surprise endorsement by Republican Senator John McCain had added momentum to the bill on Thursday, pushing the S&P 500 to close at a record high and the Dow Jones index to break above the 24,000 mark for the first time.

New York Fed President William Dudley said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that it was probably not the best time to apply fiscal stimulus when the economy was already close to full employment. [nFWN1O10JT]

Among early movers, Ulta Beauty <ULTA.O> fell 6.12 percent in premarket trading after the cosmetic retailer's profit and sales forecast fell below estimates, prompting at least three brokers to cut price targets on the stock. [nL3N1O06C6]

Blue Apron <APRN.O> rose 3 percent after the meal-kit delivery company said its co-founder and chief executive Matt Salzberg would give up the role to be replaced by its chief financial officer. [nL3N1O06FL]

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., November 30, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Oil prices edged higher, a day after OPEC and other major producers agreed to extend output curbs until the end of 2018. [O/R]

Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan, St. Louis chief James Bullard and Philadelphia counterpart Patrick Harker are all expected to speak at events later in the day.

The Institute for Supply Management's index of national factory activity is expected to have dropped slightly to a reading of 58.4 in November from 58.7 the last month. The report is due at 10:00 a.m. ET (1500 GMT)

Futures snapshot at 6:56 a.m. ET:

* Dow e-minis <1YMc1> were down 82 points, or 0.34 percent, with 43,981 contracts changing hands.

* S&P 500 e-minis <ESc1> were down 12.5 points, or 0.47 percent, with 258,339 contracts traded.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis <NQc1> were down 48 points, or 0.75 percent, on volume of 49,408 contracts.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru)

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