Futures rise, retailers draw interest on Cyber Monday

[November 27, 2017]   By Sruthi Shankar

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Monday, with a bounce in retail stocks on Cyber Monday and the almost $2 billion-dollar buyout of publisher Time helping early sentiment among investors.

* Shares of Amazon, Target,  Wal-Mart and Macy's rose on Cyber Monday, the busiest day of the year for internet shopping, adding to gains for some stocks on Friday.

* Time Inc jumped more than 10 percent after media company Meredith <MDP.N> said it would buy the publisher of People, Sports Illustrated and Fortune magazines in a $1.84 billion all-cash deal. [nL1N1NW0JU]

* Shares of intellectual property licensor Marathon Patent <MARA.O> soared another 80 percent ahead of an investor call where it is expected to provide updates on its deal to buy cryptocurrencies miner Global Bit Ventures. [nL3N1NX3MS]

* Bitcoin is a few percent away from hitting $10,000 for the first time, after gaining more than a fifth in value over the past three days.

* Technology stocks led the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to record high closes on Black Friday.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., November 20, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

* Data is expected to show sales of new U.S. single-family homes fell 6.3 percent to 625,000 units in October. The report is the first among a raft of data ranging from gross domestic product, inflation, manufacturing to automobile sales that could offer more evidence on economic growth.

* Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley and his Minneapolis counterpart Neel Kashkari are expected to make appearances later in the day.

* Among decliners, oil prices slipped, with U.S. crude easing from two-year highs on expectations of increased output. [O/R]

* Western Digital shares fell after Morgan Stanley downgraded the chipmaker's stock to "equal-weight", citing deteriorating prices for some products and uncertainty over a joint venture with Toshiba Memory .

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru)

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