LDN - Business

Futures flat as investors pause after Dow's recent rally

[January 27, 2017] By Tanya Agrawal

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were little changed on Friday as investors paused after driving the Dow Jones Industrial Average to three straight days of gains and ahead of a host of economic data and corporate results.

* The post-election rally reignited this week following a solid start to earnings season and optimism over President Donald Trump's pro-growth initiatives, catapulting the Dow above 20,000 for the first time and giving the benchmark S&P 500 its best two-day performance in seven weeks.

* All three major indexes were on track to post weekly gains.

* Trump's business-friendly decisions since taking office on Friday include signing executive orders to reduce regulatory burden on domestic manufacturers and clearing the way for the construction of two oil pipelines.

* Early fourth-quarter earnings have also boosted sentiment and are now expected to show growth of 7 percent, their biggest increase in two years, according to Thomson Reuters data.

* Of the 146 companies that have reported earnings through Thursday morning, 69.2 percent have topped expectations.

* General Dynamics <GD.N>, AbbVie <ABBV.N> and Chevron <CVX.N> are scheduled to report before the bell.

* Investors' focus will be on advanced fourth-quarter gross domestic product estimate. Economists are expecting the GDP to have likely increased at a 2.2 percent rate, down from 3.5 percent in the July-September quarter. The data is expected at 8:30 a.m. ET (1330 GMT).

* Data from the Commerce Department is likely to show durable goods orders rose 2.6 percent in December after falling 4.5 percent in November.

* Oil prices gave up earlier gains as rising crude output from the United States was seen offsetting efforts by OPEC and other producers to prop up the market by cutting supplies.

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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as the Dow Jones Industrial Average passes the 20,000 mark shortly after the opening of the trading session in New York, U.S., January 25, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

* Starbucks fell 3.8 percent to $56.24 in premarket trading after the world's biggest coffee seller trimmed its full-year revenue forecast.

* Google parent Alphabet was down 1.7 percent at $841.99 after it posted fourth-quarter profit below analysts' estimates.

* Microsoft was up 1.4 percent at $65.20 after the world's biggest software company reported a rise in quarterly profit.

* Wynn Resorts jumped 6.3 percent to $101.50 after its quarterly results came in above estimates.

Futures snapshot at 6:33 a.m. ET:

* Dow e-minis were up 8 points, or 0.04 percent, with 12,575 contracts changing hands.

* S&P 500 e-minis were down 0.25 points, or 0.01 percent, with 63,180 contracts traded.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 3.5 points, or 0.07 percent, on volume of 13,562 contracts.

(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

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