BLBG:U.S. Stock Futures Decline as Euro-Region Economy Shrinks
U.S. stock futures retreated, signaling the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will decline from a record, as the euro-area economy contracted more than forecast.
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) fell 0.7 percent in German trading after Lone Pine Capital LLC cut its holding in the world’s largest entertainment company.
Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures expiring in June slipped 0.2 percent to 1,644.5 at 10:34 a.m. in London. The benchmark gauge rallied 1 percent to the highest level on record yesterday. Contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) lost 18 points, or 0.1 percent, to 15,157 today.
“The market has gained rapidly, so it’s normal to lock in profits,” said Jerome Forneris, a fund manager at Banque Martin Maurel in Marseille, which oversees $8.5 billion. “The market needs to take a breath before moving higher.”
The U.S. bull market has entered its fifth year. The S&P 500 has surged 144 percent from a 12-year low in 2009, driven by better-than-estimated corporate earnings and three rounds of bond purchases from the Federal Reserve.
The euro-area economy shrank 0.2 percent in the first quarter after a 0.6 percent decline in the previous three months, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. The median of 39 estimates in a Bloomberg survey was for a 0.1 percent contraction.
Industrial Production
In the U.S., industrial production fell 0.2 percent in April, following a 0.4 percent gain in March, economists in a Bloomberg survey projected ahead of Federal Reserve data today. Separate data may show manufacturing in the New York region expanded for a fourth month in May.
Bank of America Corp. lowered its 2013 forecast for economic growth in China to 7.6 percent from 8 percent, citing sluggish external demand.
Disney slipped 0.7 percent to $67.02. Lone Pine, the hedge fund run by Stephen Mandel Jr., said it cut its holdings in Disney in the first quarter.
ExOne Co. sank 7.4 percent to $45.02 in Germany. The maker of 3-D printers reported a first-quarter loss per share of 20 cents, wider than the estimate for a loss of 8 cents a share. The shares have still more than doubled since the company sold stock at $18 in an initial public offering in February.
To contact the reporter on this story: Adria Cimino in Paris at acimino1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Rummer at arummer@bloomberg.net
