BLBG: U.S. Index Futures Are Little Changed After Stocks Rally on Fed
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures were little changed, after equities rallied amid speculation the Federal Reserve won’t hasten an interest-rate increase.
E-mini contracts on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index expiring in June dropped less than 0.1 percent to 2,090.75 at 7:19 a.m. in New York, paring an earlier decline of as much as 0.3 percent. Dow Jones Industrial Average E-minis lost 22 points, or 0.1 percent, to 17,967.
The S&P 500 climbed 1.2 percent yesterday after the Fed said data suggest economic growth has moderated. The central bank said higher interest rates in April are unlikely and it won’t tighten until it is “reasonably confident” inflation will return to its target and the labor market improves further.
While the Fed dropped an assurance it will be “patient” in raising rates, the word’s removal doesn’t mean it will be impatient, Chair Janet Yellen said in a press conference.
“Yellen’s comments indicate that a future interest-rate increase is data dependent, and the economic data has actually been bad,” said John Plassard, vice president at Mirabaud Securities LLP in Geneva. “Still, the dollar is going higher and there will be lots of volatility in the next weeks related to that. During March, you still haven’t had two positive equity days in a row.”
The U.S. benchmark gauge has rebounded 2.9 percent from a low on March 11. It fell 3.6 percent in the seven sessions following a record on March 2 amid concern a surging U.S. dollar will hurt corporate earnings and as oil slid more than 12 percent. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, a gauge of the currency’s performance against 10 major peers, gained 0.9 percent today, halting a three-day drop.
Jobless Claims
Investors will weigh economic reports today to gauge the strength of the U.S. recovery. A report at 8:30 a.m. Washington time may show more Americans filed for unemployment benefits in the week ended March 14 from the previous period, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
Separately, the Philadelphia Fed’s factory index for March is projected to rise from a month earlier. A Conference Board index of leading indicators, a measure of the outlook for the next three to six months, climbed 0.2 percent in February, following a similar rise in January, economists forecast.
Williams-Sonoma Inc. dropped 3.7 percent in premarket trading after the San Francisco-based seller of cookware and home furnishings reported fourth-quarter sales that fell short of the average analyst estimate.
EBay Inc. lost 2.8 percent after Piper Jaffray Cos. cut its rating on the shares to underweight, similar to sell, citing increased competition from Apple Pay. The company slumped yesterday after Facebook Inc. announced a feature in its Messenger application for friends to send or receive money.
Energy companies Transocean Ltd., ConocoPhillips and Chesapeake Energy Corp. retreated more than 1 percent as oil resumed a slump. The commodity is trading near its lowest price in six years.
Lennar Corp. gained 2 percent as the homebuilder reported quarterly earnings that exceeded estimates.
To contact the reporter on this story: Inyoung Hwang in London at ihwang7@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Cecile Vannucci at cvannucci1@bloomberg.net Namitha Jagadeesh
