U.S. Stock Futures Are Little Changed Before Output Data
U.S. stock-index futures were little changed, after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index recorded its biggest monthly gain since February, before data that may show manufacturing in the world’s biggest economy continued to expand in August.
Apple Inc. and Yahoo! Inc. advanced in premarket New York trading. Compuware Corp. jumped 15 percent after a Wall Street Journal report that it may sell itself. Exelixis Inc. slumped 51 percent after it said that it would cut jobs after a cancer-treatment trial missed its objectives.
Futures on the S&P 500 expiring this month added 0.1 percent to 2,003.1 at 7:37 a.m. in New York. U.S. equity markets were closed yesterday for the Labor Day holiday. Contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 18 points, or 0.1 percent, to 17,103 today.
“Investors are not penciling in a negative reading from today’s U.S. manufacturing data,” Stephane Ekolo, chief European strategist at Market Securities in London, wrote in an e-mail. “U.S. investors will try to focus on the economic agenda of the day, while geopolitical issues remain in the background.”
A report from the Institute for Supply Management at 10 a.m. in Washington will show U.S manufacturing continued to expand last month, though at a slower pace than in July, economists predicted. Data yesterday showed that output growth in China, the U.K., and the euro area slowed, stoking speculation that central banks will increase stimulus measures.
In Ukraine, the government warned of an escalating conflict in its easternmost regions, even as U.S. President Barack Obama headed to eastern Europe to reassure NATO members. Ukraine and its allies in the U.S. and Europe accuse Russia of dispatching troops and backing separatist militias to open a new front in the conflict that the United Nations estimates has claimed 2,600 lives. Russia has repeatedly denied involvement in the unrest.
Tech Gains
Apple, the world’s biggest company by market value, climbed 0.7 percent to $103.19. Yahoo increased 1.4 percent to $39.06.
Compuware rose 15 percent to $10.74. The software company is in advanced talks to sell itself to a private equity firm, the WSJ reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Exelixis slumped 51 percent to $2.02. A trial for its cabozantinib treatment for prostate cancer failed to meet its aim of showing an increase in survival rates compared with another drug. The company said it will reduce its workforce by about 70 percent to focus its financial resources on other clinical trials for cabozantinib.
Groupon Inc. advanced 2.2 percent to $6.95. RBC Capital Markets raised its rating on the e-commerce retailer to sector perform, similar to a hold recommendation, from underperform, or sell.
Dollar General Corp. (DG) added 2.1 percent to $65.35. The retailer said today that it raised its offer for smaller rival Family Dollar Stores Inc. (FDO) to $80 a share in cash, compared with an initial $78.50 bid. Family Dollar Stores rose 0.7 percent to $80.35.
Source: bloomberg
