Futures slip as investors assess Trump's policies

[March 07, 2017]  By Yashaswini Swamynathan

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were down on Tuesday as investors assessed the potential impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's latest moves, including a plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

Healthcare stocks will be in focus after Republicans unveiled a proposal on Monday that would roll back extra healthcare funding for the poor and introduce a system of tax credits for people to buy insurance.

A record run on Wall Street has lost momentum in the past few days as investors seek more details on Trump's proposals, including reduced regulations, tax cuts and higher infrastructure spending.

The so-called Trump rally has led to inflated stock market valuations. The S&P 500 is trading at about 18 times forward earnings estimates against the long-term average of about 15 times, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Investors are also positioning themselves for an all-but-certain interest rate hike when the Federal Reserve's policy-setting body meets next week. The meeting could also call for faster rate hikes.

A report on international trade data will likely show U.S. trade deficit widened to $48.5 billion in January from $44.3 billion in December. The data is due at 8:30 a.m. ET (1330 GMT).

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 6, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Newly minted shares of Snapchat owner Snap Inc fell 4 percent to $22.04 in premarket trading after a group representing large institutional investors asked stock index providers to bar the company and others who sell non-voting shares from their stock benchmarks.

Dish Network was up 4.52 percent at $64 after the satellite TV company would join the S&P 500 effective next week.

Futures snapshot at 6:58 a.m. ET:

Dow e-minis <1YMc1> were down 26 points, or 0.12 percent, with 14,191 contracts changing hands.

S&P 500 e-minis  were down 4 points, or 0.17 percent, with 82,366 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 8.5 points, or 0.16 percent, on volume of 14,675 contracts.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

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