MARKET SNAPSHOT: U.S. Futures Edge Up, As Investors Shrug Off China To Focus On Black Friday
November 27 2015 - 6:52AM
Dow Jones News
By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
Friday will be a short trading day on Wall Street
U.S. stock futures titling higher Friday, as investors shrugged
off a plunge in Chinese equities as they get ready for a shortened
post-holiday session.
Updates from retailers with Black Friday sales will also be
watched closely.
Futures for the S&P 500 picked up 2.2 points, or 0.1%, to
2,090.25 and those for the Nasdaq-100 rose 13.50 points, or 0.3%,
to 4,690.75. Futures of the Dow Jones Industrial Average were off 2
points at 17,800.00, but had darted into positive territory.
Markets were seemed largely unrattled by a rout on the Shanghai
Composite Index Friday, which came after Chinese stock regulators
launched investigations
(http://www.wsj.com/articles/citic-securities-probed-by-chinas-stock-market-regulator-1448537277)
into two major Chinese brokerages over suspected violations of
securities rules.
Before the Thanksgiving break, U.S. stocks closed mixed in
Wednesday's thinly-traded session
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stock-futures-rise-as-wall-street-focuses-on-data-not-global-tensions-2015-11-25).
The S&P 500 fell less than 1 point to 2,088.87. The Dow
industrials edged up 1.2 points to 17,813.39, and the Nasdaq rose
0.3% to 5,116.14.
For the abbreviated week, the Dow was on track to rise 0.9%, and
the S&P 500 was in line for a 0.5% advance. The Nasdaq looks
like it may fare better, with a 1.2% rise.
Light session: Trading volumes should be light, as the markets
are only open for a half-day after the closure for Thanksgiving Day
holiday on Thursday.
The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq will close at 1 p.m.
Eastern Time, while the Securities Industry and Financial Markets
Association is recommending a 2 p.m. Eastern closure for the bond
market. Read: When are U.S. markets closed during Thanksgiving
week?
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/when-do-markets-close-around-thanksgiving-2015-11-23)
No economic data are slated for release.
Black Friday: Millions of Americans are expected to hit the
stores or shop online for discounted electronics, clothing and
other items.
Retailers "have swamped newspapers and social media with
advertising. Traders will be waiting to see who is first to report
'record sales' from today's shopping bonanza," said Alastair
McCaig, market analyst at IG, in a note. "As ever, the devil will
be in the detail, and seasoned traders are only too aware that
record sales do not automatically translate into record
profits."
Read: What stock investors should do when Black Friday comes
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-stock-investors-should-do-when-black-friday-comes-2015-11-25)
The SPDR S&P Retail exchange-traded fund (XRT) may see some
action Friday.
Corporates: Drug maker AbbVie (ABBV) should report before the
bell. It is expected to post a rise in fourth-quarter earnings to
$1.12 a share
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) shares may be active after the media giant
said in a regulatory filing that its ESPN sports network lost 3
million subscribers
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/disney-is-losing-espn-subscribers-by-the-millions-2015-11-26)
within one year.
Shares of KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc. (KBIO) surged 55%
premarket. The biotech firm's newly appointed chief executive,
Martin Shkreli, said in a Thanksgiving Day post on Twitter
(https://twitter.com/MartinShkreli/status/669947047345315840) that
he's decided to stop lending out his shares in the company.
Other markets: Elsewhere in Asian trade, Japanese shares slipped
0.3%, after the Nikkei Average reached nearly 20,000 earlier this
week. European stocks fell , with commodity shares under additional
pressure from disappointing Chinese economic data.
Oil futures
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-struggle-as-market-mulls-opec-meeting-2015-11-27)
dropped 2%, heading south ahead of a key OPEC meeting and as supply
worries persist. Gold prices slipped 0.6%, and the U.S. dollar
index rose 0.3% to slightly above 100.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 27, 2015 06:37 ET (11:37 GMT)
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