U.S. stock futures were little changed, with the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 Index heading for the biggest January rally since 1989, as investors awaited company earnings and data on jobless claims. Facebook Inc. lost 6.9 percent after saying profit dropped 79 percent in the fourth quarter on higher spending. Electronic Arts (EA) Inc. fell 2.4 percent after its quarterly sales forecast fell short of analysts’ expectations. Qualcomm (QCOM) Inc. rose 6 percent after predicting better-than-estimated second-quarter sales and profit. S&P 500 futures expiring in March dropped 0.1 percent to 1,494.3 at 7:28 a.m. in New York. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost 7 points to 13,831. U.S. stock benchmark indexes fell from five-year highs yesterday as the economy unexpectedly shrank in the fourth quarter. “There’s too much uncertainty in the market to go up in a straight line, so I think some sort of pull-back will be quite healthy; earnings have exceeded near-term expectations but those came down quite a lot in the tail-end of last year,� Tom Walker, head of U.S. equities at Martin Currie Investment Management Ltd, which manages about 4.75 billion pounds ($7.5 billion), said in a phone interview from Edinburgh. “Today’s jobs claims data is backward looking, but is one of the more real-time economic data points you get; as long as it stays below the 300,000 level, I think that’s relatively positive.� Mastercard Inc. and United Parcel Service Inc. are among 38 companies on the S&P 500 Index reporting earnings today. About 75 percent of the 210 companies that have released results so far exceeded profit projections, and 66 percent have surpassed sales estimates, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Best Start The S&P 500 has risen 5.3 percent this month, the best start of a year since 1989, as lawmakers agreed on a budget compromise and companies reported better-than-estimated earnings. The index has more than doubled from a 12-year low in 2009 as the Fed increased its bond purchases to keep interest rates low and spur growth. The S&P 500 is about 4 percent below its record of 1,565.15 set in October 2007, while the Dow is less than 2 percent from its all-time high. A Labor Department report due at 8:30 a.m. in Washington may show initial jobless claims rose to 351,000 in the week ended Jan. 26, from 330,000 a week earlier, according to the median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg survey. Data tomorrow may show employers added 165,000 workers this month, according to economists’ projections in a Bloomberg survey. The unemployment rate probably held at 7.8 percent. Facebook Declines Facebook (FB) dropped 6.9 percent to $29.10 in early New York trading. Net income fell 79 percent to $64 million in the last quarter as operating expenses jumped 82 percent, the company said in a statement late yesterday. That outpaced a 40 percent revenue gain to $1.59 billion and raised concerns that margins will come under pressure. Electronic Arts retreated 2.4 percent to $14.72 in German trading. The second-largest U.S. video-game maker said adjusted revenue will be about $1.03 billion to $1.13 billion for the fourth quarter. Analysts on average had predicted sales of $1.22 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Fusion-io Inc. (FIO), the maker of data-storage computers, tumbled 18 percent to $16.40 in early New York trading. Sales will be about $80 million in the period ending in March, and its operating loss will be $10 million to $15 million excluding certain items, the company said. Analysts had expected sales of $137.7 million and an operating profit of $16.7 million, according to the average estimate in a Bloomberg survey. Qualcomm Advances Qualcomm, the world’s largest seller of semiconductors for mobile phones, rose 6 percent to $67.35 in early New York trading. Profit in the current period will be 98 cents to $1.06 a share on revenue of $5.8 billion to $6.3 billion, the company said. Analysts on average had projected net income of 94 cents on sales of $5.87 billion. Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS) added 7.7 percent to $55.55 in German trading after saying late yesterday that revenue in Macau rose 48 percent to $1.97 billion in the fourth quarter. The casino company led by billionaire Sheldon Adelson also raised its quarterly dividend by 40 percent to 35 cents a share, from 25 cents previously. Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) rallied 11 percent to $74.17 in German trading. The company targets first-quarter revenue in the range of $670 million to $680 million, according to a statement late yesterday. The average estimate in a Bloomberg survey called for $669.19 million. To contact the reporter on this story: Sofia Horta e Costa in London at shortaecosta@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Rummer at arummer@bloomberg.net

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