By Tomi Kilgore
U.S. stock futures added to gains after data showing retail
sales increased more than expected.
About 55 minutes ahead of the open, Dow Jones Industrial Average
futures climbed 66 points, or 0.4%, to 16047. Just prior to the
release of the data, Dow futures were up 51 points.
S&P 500 index futures advanced nine points, or 0.5%, to 1821
and Nasdaq 100 futures rallied 20 points, or 0.6%, to 3464. Changes
in stock futures don't always accurately predict stock moves after
the opening bell.
Retail sales for March rose 1.1% on the month, the largest gain
since September 2012, versus expectations of a 0.8% increase.
Excluding auto sales, retail sales grew 0.7%, topping forecasts of
a 0.4% rise.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note ticked up to 2.650% from
a seven week low of 2.619% late Friday.
The early gain in futures followed a sharp selloff last week, in
which continued weakness in previously hot biotechnology and
new-generation technology stocks put particular pressure on the
Nasdaq Composite Index.
That selling, in which the Nasdaq Composite suffered the biggest
weekly percentage loss last week since June 2012, started spilling
over into larger, blue chip stocks. The Dow Industrials ended last
week with the biggest two-day decline in over two-months.
European markets were broadly lower, as fresh tensions in
Ukraine added to the pressures of last week's technology-led
selloff.
Helping provide an early lift to sentiment, banking giant
Citigroup rose 2.6% in premarket trading after reporting
first-quarter earnings and revenue that exceeded analyst
estimates.
Despite the recent weakness, longer-term investors still believe
the outlook for stocks is favorable, as the fundamentals that have
helped push the market to new highs this year, such as an improving
economy, low interest rates and inflation and an accommodative
Federal Reserve, will eventually stem the selling.
Wayne Kaufman, chief market analyst at New York-based investment
firm Rockwell Securities, said that while he remains bullish
long-term, and some technical signals suggest a short-term rally
can start, he recommends investors hold off on putting new money to
work until the market shows it can respond to positive signals.
"Unfortunately, just because stocks stop going down doesn't mean
they are going up," Mr. Kaufman said.
He said the fact that previous leading stocks haven't sustained
a bounce despite "oversold" technical readings is a concern.
"A market that does not respond to oversold conditions is
dangerous," Mr. Kaufman said. "As we've been stressing, this is a
short-term trader's market."
Crude oil futures slipped 0.1% to $103.66 a barrel, after
settling at a seven-week low on Friday, while gold futures gained
0.3% to $1,322.50 an ounce. The dollar gained some ground against
the euro and the yen.
In Europe, Stoxx Europe 600 declined 0.4%, and was headed for
the lowest close in three weeks. Adding to recent investor concerns
over valuation, Ukraine mobilized its military over the weekend to
counter pro-Russian militants who extended their control across
several cities in the east of the country.
Germany's DAX 30 index gave up 0.5%, France's CAC 40 fell 0.4%
and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 lost 0.4%.
"Tensions in Eastern Ukraine are playing a part in containing
risk-taking in the new week," said foreign-exchange analysts at BNP
Paribas.
Separately, comments from European Central Bank President Mario
Draghi over the weekend that the strength of the euro could prompt
further monetary easing to prevent inflation rate from falling too
low had little effect on the currency or equity markets.
Asian markets were mostly lower. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average
lost 0.4% to a six-month low, after suffering last week the biggest
weekly percentage decline since March 2011. China's Shanghai
Composite inched up 0.1%.
In corporate news, TIAA-CREF is set to announce it is buying
Nuveen Investments for $6.25 billion including debt, The Wall
Street Journal reported. The acquisition would move TIAA-CREF up to
become one of the U.S.'s biggest money managers.
WebMD rallied 12% after the online health portal said it expects
first-quarter results will be at least at the high end of
expectations, helped recent improvement in sales activity.
Write to Tomi Kilgore at tomi.kilgore@wsj.com and Tommy
Stubbington at tommy.stubbington@wsj.com