U.S. Stock Futures Pare Gains After Housing Data Disappoint
DOW JONES & COMPANY, INC. 9:09 AM ET 04/16/14
U.S. stocks were on track to open higher Wednesday after better-than-expected growth data from China.
About 30 minutes before the open, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 63 points, or 0.4%, to 16268. Just before the release of the housing data, Dow futures were up 73 points.
S&P 500 index futures advanced seven points, or 0.4%, to 1847 and Nasdaq-100 futures climbed 13 points, or 0.4%, to 3505. Changes in stock futures don't always accurately predict stock moves after the opening bell. On Tuesday, stocks ended a roller-coaster session broadly higher. The Dow closed up 89 points to post the best two-day point gain since March 18.
Wednesday, stock futures were broadly higher after data showed that China's gross domestic product grew 7.4% in the first quarter, the slowest rate in 18 months, but above economists' forecasts of 7.3% and close to the government's target of "about 7.5%."
The data gave Asian and European markets a boost, as it assuaged fears of a sharper slowdown in the world's second- largest economy. "The reported economic slowdown in China in the first quarter wasn't as sharp as some had feared," said Lee Hardman, a currency analyst at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in London.
But stock futures pared some of their gains after U.S. housing data missed forecasts. New residential construction for March rose 2.8% to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 946,000, falling well below forecasts of a rise of 6.4% to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate 965,000. Building permits fell 2.4% to 990,000, versus forecasts of 1.01 million.
Still on tap, industrial production for March, due out at 9:15 a.m. Eastern, is forecast to rise 0.4% on the month. Capacity utilization is expected to increase to 78.7% from 78.4% in February.
At 12:25 p.m., Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen is giving a speech on monetary policy and the economic recovery at the Economic Club of New York. The Fed's "beige book" report, a read on the U.S. economy from anecdotes gathered by the central bank's 12 districts, is due out later in the afternoon.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.641% from 2.628% late Tuesday.
The better-than-expected data from China helped soothe concerns, and helped offset mixed corporate earnings reports. Companies in the S&P 500 are on pace to report that first-quarter earnings declined 1.9% from the previous year.
Among early stock movers, Dow component Intel slipped 0.1% after reporting late Tuesday first-quarter earnings that topped analyst estimates, while revenue was in line with its forecast and PC sales continued to decline.
Yahoo surged 7.9% after first-quarter results exceeded expectations, and the company provided an upbeat revenue outlook for the current quarter.
Bank of America slipped 0.9% after the banking giant reported it swung to a first-quarter loss as a result of previously-disclosed litigation expenses, while revenue fell slightly less than expected.
Gold futures gained 0.3% to $1,304.20 a troy ounce, after falling 2% Tuesday to mark the biggest one-day percentage loss since Dec. 19. Crude-oil futures added 0.8% to $104.63 a barrel. The dollar rose against the yen, but lost some ground against the euro.
European markets were broadly higher as upbeat Chinese data offset mixed data out of Europe. The Stoxx Europe 600 advanced 0.9% after falling to a three-week low on Tuesday.
Data showed euro-zone inflation in March rose 0.5% from a year ago, the lowest annual rate since November 2009, and confirming preliminary estimates released last month.
Separately, U.K. unemployment averaged 6.9% between December and February, the lowest rate since February 2009, and below the 7% threshold at which the Bank of England has previously said it would begin considering a rise in interest rates.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average shot up 3%, helped by China's GDP data, and after Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said he would closely monitor stock prices and that inflation was on a steady track toward the 2.0% target. China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.2%.
Among other stocks seeing early activity, Google, which is due to report results after the close, rose 0.9%.
Twitter slipped 1.1%. The stock shot up 11% Tuesday, the biggest one-day gain since the microblogging site went public in November, a day after some of the company's earliest and biggest backers said they didn't plan to sell shares when rules barring them from doing so expire next month.
Twitter had been one of the hardest-hit of the previous highfliers, as the stock was down 37% on the year through Friday, after ending last year 145% above its $26 initial public offering price.
Write to Alexandra Scaggs at alexandra.scaggs@wsj.com and Tomi Kilgore at tomi.kilgore@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
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