BLBG: U.S. Stock Futures Little Changed Before Services Report
U.S. stock-index futures were little changed as investors awaited data on services and home sales, while weighing earnings reports.
AcelRx Pharmaceuticals (ACRX) Inc. tumbled 30 percent in early New York trading after saying it failed to win approval for its pain treatment Zalviso from the Food and Drug Administration. Dollar Tree Inc. added 5.1 percent after agreeing to buy Family Dollar Stores Inc., a discount store chain, which soared 23 percent.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index expiring in September slipped 0.1 percent to 1,969.7 at 7:28 a.m. in New York. The equity benchmark ended last week little changed as earnings reports pushed Amazon.com Inc. to its biggest slide in three years and Facebook Inc. to an all-time high. Dow Jones Industrial Average contracts declined 14 points, or 0.1 percent, to 16,877 today.
“It is a case of wait and see,” Raimund Saxinger, a fund manager at Frankfurt-Trust Investment GmbH, which oversees about $22 billion, said in a phone interview. “There is data coming today and it is quite an important week in terms of earnings reports. Earnings have been good and markets want to see that this is going to carry on.”
Pfizer Inc., Reynolds American Inc. and American Express Co. are among some 150 S&P 500 companies reporting this week. About 79 percent of U.S. companies that have posted results this season have beaten analysts’ estimates for profit, while 66 percent exceeded sales projections, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Profits probably rose 6.2 percent in the second quarter, while sales gained 3.3 percent, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Services Data
Preliminary data at 9:45 a.m. Washington time may show that Markit Economics purchasing managers’ index for the services industry fell to 59.8 in July from 61 in the prior month, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
A report from the National Association of Realtors at 10 a.m. may show a pending home-sales index climbed 0.5 percent in June following a 6.1 percent gain in May.
AcelRx Pharmaceuticals plummeted 30 percent to $7.54. The pharmaceutical company said Zalviso, a pain treatment for adult hospital patients, failed to get approval from the FDA, which has requested additional information on the drug.
Dollar Tree added 5.1 percent to $57 in early New York trading. Family Dollar surged 23 percent to $74.80. Dollar Tree agreed to buy rival Family Dollar for $74.50 per share. The transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of both companies and is expected to close by early 2015, the companies said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Morgan in Frankfurt at jmorgan157@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Cecile Vannucci at cvannucci1@bloomberg.net Alan Soughley, Will Hadfield
