LDN - Business

Nasdaq futures fall as tech selloff continues

[December 05, 2017] By Rama Venkat Raman

(Reuters) - Nasdaq futures were lower on Tuesday as selloff in tech stocks continued, while the Dow was higher as investors looked to profit from stocks that would benefit from potential corporate tax cuts.

The Senate approved its version of tax code overhaul in a 51-49 vote over the weekend. Talks will begin likely next week between the Senate and the House, which had approved its own version of the legislation.

Once the bills are reconciled, the resulting bill could cut corporate tax rates to 20 percent from 35 percent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a record high on Monday, with banks and retailers surging and technology companies falling as investors realigned their portfolios in hopes of benefiting from expected corporate tax cuts.

The S&P 500 ended with a loss after hitting an intra-day all-time high earlier in the day, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq dropped 1.05 percent.

The S&P tech sector <.SPLRCT> has been the best performing sector this year, far outperforming the broader index, but investors are worried about stretched valuations.

Shares of major tech companies such as Facebook <FB.O>, Apple <AAPL.O>, Microsoft <MSFT.O> and Alphabet <GOOGL.O> were down about 0.5 percent in premarket trading.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday ahead of U.S. crude inventories data, as the market weighed the impact of rising U.S. crude output versus last week's deal between OPEC and other crude producers to extend output curbs. [O/R]

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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., November 28, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

The U.S. Commerce Department is scheduled to release at 8:30 a.m. ET (1330 GMT) a report on trade deficit data that is expected to have increased to $47.5 billion in October from $43.5 billion in September.

The Institute for Supply Management is predicted to report that its non-manufacturing index dropped to a reading of 59.0 in November from 60.1 in the month before. The report will be released at 10 a.m. ET.

The U.S. Senate Banking Committee will vote on the nomination of Jerome Powell to be chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Governors.

Regal Entertainment <RGC.N> was 6 percent higher after the company agreed to be bought by Britain's Cineworld <CINE.L> for $3.6 billion in cash.

Snap <SNAP.N> was up 3.8 percent after Barclays raised the stock's rating to overweight and price target to $18.

Toll Brothers <TOL.N> slumped 8.2 percent after the company's quarterly profit and revenue missed estimates and it forecast a decrease in full-year 2018 adjusted gross margin.

(Reporting by Rama Venkat Raman in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

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