By Chris Dieterich
U.S. stock futures slipped on Thursday, pointing to a lower open
after the market's biggest one-day gain of the year.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 73 points, or
0.4%, to 16829. S&P 500 futures declined seven points, or 0.4%,
to 1955, while Nasdaq-100 Index futures fell 12 points, or 0.3%, to
4018.
Stocks have seen choppy trading since the S&P 500 peaked on
Sept. 18, amid news of a strong U.S. employment report, dreary
forecasts for Europe and dovish minutes from the Federal Reserve's
latest meeting.
A drop of nearly 273 points in the Dow on Tuesday was followed
by a nearly 275-point rebound on Wednesday, the biggest jump of the
year for blue chips. That rally was sparked by minutes from last
month's meeting of Federal Reserve officials, who expressed concern
that weakness overseas and a strong dollar could hit the bottom
lines of big U.S. companies. The Dow has swung more than 200 points
in four of the past six trading days.
Alcoa rose 1.7% in premarket trading after the aluminum
producer's earnings report topped analyst expectations on rising
aluminum prices.
Ruby Tuesday shot 16% higher after the casual-dining chain swung
to a quarterly profit.
Retailer Gap slumped 10% after the company said that its chief
executive, Glenn Murphy, will step down next year. The retailer
reported flat same-store sales for September.
PepsiCo rose 1.6% after reporting that volumes in its beverage
and snack categories ticked up 1% in the latest quarter.
In economic news, the number of Americans filing for
unemployment in the most recent week is expected to rise slightly
to 292,000 from 287,000 a week earlier.
August wholesale inventories, a reading of the merchandise
piling up on wholesalers' shelves, is expected to rise 0.4% from a
month earlier.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year note fell to 2.285%, compared
with 2.331% late on Thursday.
The Stoxx Europe 600 slid 0.3%. Germany's DAX dropped 0.1%.
Write to Chris Dieterich at christopher.dieterich@wsj.com