U.S. stock futures pared decline, after the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 Index yesterday posted its biggest gain in five weeks, as data showed jobless claims fell to the lowest level since 2007. Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. tumbled 5.8 percent after predicting quarterly profit below estimates. Rite Aid Corp. jumped 8 percent after forecasting full-year sales that exceeded estimates. Futures on the S&P 500 expiring in June fell 0.1 percent to 1,863.5 at 8:34 a.m. in New York, after dropping as much as 0.4 percent earlier. Contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 8 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 16,352. Futures on the Nasdaq 100 Index lost less than 0.1 percent. The S&P 500 climbed 1.1 percent yesterday, with a gauge of technology shares posting the biggest advance since Jan. 14, as minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting eased concern about the timing of an interest-rate increase. The S&P 500 fell as much as 2.4 percent from a record reached April 2 amid a selloff in technology shares amid concern about the group’s valuations. Several Fed policy makers said a rise in their projection for the benchmark interest rate exaggerated the likely speed of tightening, according to minutes of their March 18-19 meeting released yesterday. Treasury yields rose last month after policy makers predicted the rate would rise faster than previously forecast. Three rounds of Fed stimulus have helped fuel economic growth, sending the S&P 500 surging as much as 180 percent from its 2009 low. Jobless Claims The fewest number of Americans since before the last recession filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, pointing to more progress in the labor market. Jobless claims decreased by 32,000 to 300,000 in the week ended April 5, the lowest since May 2007, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington. The figure was lower than the most optimistic forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 52 economists. Data last week boosted optimism that the economy is shaking off the effects of severe winter weather and building momentum into the second quarter. The government’s jobs report on April 4 showed employers boosted hiring last month and the unemployment rate held at 6.7 percent. Stock futures fell earlier today after a report showed China’s exports and imports unexpectedly fell in March, adding to concern that expansion in the world’s second-largest economy will deteriorate further. Premier Li Keqiang said the nation will roll out more policies to support growth while avoiding stronger stimulus. Earnings Season Alcoa Inc. this week unofficially began the quarterly earnings-reporting season as it posted profit that beat analysts’ estimates. Profit for members of the S&P 500 probably climbed 1 percent in the first quarter, analysts now forecast, after anticipating a 6.6 percent rise in January. The companies’ sales climbed 2.9 percent, the projections show. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. are scheduled to report earnings tomorrow. Bed Bath & Beyond slid 5.8 percent to $64 today. The retailer said first-quarter earnings will be 92 cents to 96 cents a share, missing the $1.02 average prediction of analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Rite Aid jumped 8 percent to $6.91 after saying it expects full financial-year sales of $26 billion to $26.5 billion, exceeding the $25.78 billion-average of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The drugstore-chain operator also reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings that surpassed the average analyst estimate. To contact the reporter on this story: Namitha Jagadeesh in London at njagadeesh@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Cecile Vannucci at cvannucci1@bloomberg.net Jeff Sutherland, Srinivasan Sivabalan

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