By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower
market open Thursday, as attention turned to tensions between
Russia and Ukraine.
Shares of Morgan Stanley could gain after the banking giant's
quarterly results outstripped expectations. But both Mattel and
AutoNation were suffering following disappointing earnings.
Investors on Thursday will also assess a weekly labor-market
update as well as a speech on monetary policy by a Federal Reserve
official.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJU4) fell 50
points, or 0.3%, to 17,007, while those for the S&P 500 index
(SPU4) dropped 11 points, or 0.5%, to 1,964. Futures for the Nasdaq
100 index (NDU4) gave up 23 points, or 0.6%, to 3,900.
A drop in futures accelerated following reports a Ukrainian
fighter jet was shot down by missiles from a Russian plane. The
National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine said the incident
took place late Wednesday.
On Wednesday, the U.S. unveiled a new round of sanctions against
Russia, targeting companies such as oil giant Rosneft and
Gazprombank ONO. The European Union said it will detail new
sanctions against Russia by the end of this month. European stocks
fell sharply on Thursday. Read: Russian stocks pounded after U.S.
imposes new sanctions.
Ahead of the bell, shares of Morgan Stanley (MS) gained more
than 2% after the company's profit and revenue for the second
quarter beat Wall Street's projections.
UnitedHealth Group (UNH) shares climbed 1.2% after the largest
health insurer in the U.S. reported better-than-expected
second-quarter results. It also raised its 2014 revenue
projection.
Mattel (MAT) shares sank 10% as quarterly earnings were dragged
lower by muted sales of Barbie dolls.
SanDisk (SNDK) shares fell 8% after the flash-memory maker's
third-quarter revenue forecast was lighter than anticipated. Read
more about the day's notable movers here.
Investors will monitor comments from St. Louis Fed President
James Bullard, who is slated to speak in Kentucky about monetary
policy at 1:35 p.m. Eastern Time. Bullard said in a Bloomberg
interview last week that a continued decline in U.S. unemployment
could push inflation above the Fed's 2% target by the end of 2015.
Bullard isn't a voting member of the Fed's policy-making
committee.
The Labor Department will release data on weekly jobless claims
at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. The number of people who applied for
unemployment benefits is expected to rise to 310,000 for the week
ended July 12, according to economists polled by MarketWatch. Last
week, claims fell to a nearly seven-year low.
The Commerce Department's report on June housing starts is due
at the same time. Economists expect the seasonally adjusted annual
rate to have hit 1.02 million units. Economists say about 1.7
million starts are needed each year to maintain current stock and
meet demand for replacement and second homes.
A July reading on activity among regional manufacturers is
slated for release at 10 a.m. Eastern by the Federal Reserve Bank
of Philadelphia. Economists expect to see the result weaken to 16.5
from 17.8 in June, which was the highest level since September.
After trading closes Thursday, Google (GOOG) is expected to post
earnings of $6.25 a share on revenue of $12.3 billion. Read NEED TO
KNOW: Janet Yellen might disagree, but Amazon tapped as screaming
buy.
In the commodities market, August crude-oil futures (CLQ4) rose
$1.32 to $102.52 a barrel, and gold futures (GCQ4) picked up $1.40
to $1,301 an ounce.
Asian stocks overnight closed mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Average
down 0.1%.
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