By Saumya Vaishampayan
U.S. stock futures fell Friday, pressured by declines in
European markets and weak first-quarter corporate earnings.
S&P 500 futures declined 10 points, or 0.5%, to 2091. E-mini
Dow futures lost 84 points, or 0.5%, to 17956, and e-mini
Nasdaq-100 futures fell 28 points, or 0.6%, to 4387. Changes in
stock futures don't always accurately predict moves in the stock
market after the opening bell.
European stocks tumbled, while German government bonds traded at
record low yields. Germany's DAX fell 1.8% and France's CAC 40
declined 1.3%. Investors had to contend with technical problems
after Bloomberg's financial terminals went down globally on Friday,
resulting in disruption for traders who rely on the data machines
to trade securities and causing the U.K. to postpone a scheduled
multibillion buyback of government debt. Bloomberg is a competitor
of Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal on financial news.
American Express Co. on Thursday said first-quarter net income
rose 6.5% as card holders increased spending and borrowing. The
company said results were hurt by the strong U.S. dollar. Shares
fell 2.2% premarket.
General Electric Co. said its revenue fell a worse-than-expected
12% in its first quarter. The conglomerate swung to a loss as it
took a charge on its plan to sell off the bulk of its lending arm
and refocus on industrial operations. Shares fell 0.8%
premarket.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. said Thursday its first-quarter loss
widened as revenue slumped. The company said it was exiting its
dense server systems business, effective immediately. Revenue and
the loss excluding items missed expectations, pushing shares down
11% premarket.
Stocks ended little changed Thursday, with the Dow shedding less
than 0.1% to 18105.77. The S&P slipped 0.1% to 2104.99.
Stock-market swings have been muted in recent sessions. The Dow
and S&P haven't posted a 1% daily move so far this month.
Still, the major indexes are hovering just below all-time highs.
The Dow is 1% away from its record and the S&P is 0.6% below
its record, both set in early March. The Nasdaq is 0.8% shy of its
all-time high from March 2000.
"The thing that we have been really emphasizing is allocating
capital where capital is scarce," said Matt Moore, managing
director and partner at HighTower. "Capital has been scarce in
developed international markets," he added, pointing to European
and Asian stock markets.
Even with the huge gains in European stocks this year--Germany's
DAX has had several records in 2015, he continues to recommend
stocks in Europe and Asia. "The U.S. is fine, but people are saying
these other opportunities look pretty attractive," he said.
In economic news, the consumer-price index is expected to rise
0.3% in March, according to economists surveyed by The Wall Street
Journal. Later in the morning, a preliminary reading on consumer
sentiment for April is due.
Treasury prices rose, pushing the 10-year yield down to 1.860%
from 1.878% on Thursday.
In commodity markets, gold futures added 0.6% to $1205.40 an
ounce. Crude-oil futures slipped 0.4% to $56.46 a barrel.
Write to Saumya Vaishampayan at saumya.vaishampayan@wsj.com
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