Futures flat as oil gains offset chipmaker falls

[September 21, 2018]   By Shreyashi Sanyal

(Reuters) - Stock index futures handed back initial gains on Friday to point to a flat opening for U.S. markets, with the impact of a rise in oil prices on energy companies offset by a drop in chipmaker shares.

Crude prices rose ahead of a meeting of OPEC and other large exporters that will focus on production increases as U.S. sanctions restrict Iranian exports while President Trump simultaneously demands Middle East producers get prices down.

Shares of Chevron rose 0.5 percent in premarket trade. [O/R]

Shares in Idaho-based Micron <MU.O> dropped 5.8 percent after the chipmaker said U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods would weigh on its financial results for as much as a year.
 

Other chipmakers also declined. Intel <INTC.O> fell 0.1 percent, Advanced Micro Devices <AMD.O> 0.3 percent and Lam Research <LRCX.O> 1.5 percent.

A surge since the latest moves in the U.S.-China trade conflict earlier this week have pushed all three major indexes back into record territory after a rough few months.

Trade-sensitive Caterpillar <CAT.N> and Boeing <BA.N> both climbed 0.3 percent on Friday.

At 7:09 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis <1YMc1> were up 13 points, or 0.05 percent. S&P 500 e-minis <ESc1> were down 1 points, or 0.03 percent and Nasdaq 100 e-minis <NQc1> were down 2.25 points, or 0.03 percent.

Under Armour <UAA.N> rose for its second straight session after J.P. Morgan upgraded the sportswear maker's shares, citing the company's announcement on Thursday of a 3-percent cut in its workforce.
 

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., September 20, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

The most significant changes to Wall Street's broad industry sectors since 1999 will take effect Monday, reclassifying many of the hot growth companies that have been nearly synonymous with the "tech" rally that has fueled the stock bull market.

While any immediate market impact will be hard to gauge, investors are preparing for volatility in stocks being moved from one industry to another when some investors readjust portfolios.

Facebook <FB.O>, Google parent Alphabet <GOOGL.O>, Twitter <TWTR.N> will all be reclassified as communications rather than tech stocks, joining a group that includes AT&T <T.N>, Verizon <VZ.N> and CenturyLink <CTL.N>.

Apple <AAPL.O> will remain in the tech sector, where it will account for 20 percent of the index's market capitalization and Amazon.com <AMZN.O> will stay in the consumer discretionary sector <.SPLRCD>.

Shares of Facebook, Alphabet and Twitter traded either flat or marginally higher on their last day of trading in the technology sector.

(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru)

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