Stock Futures Flat As 4Q Begins
Monday October 2, 7:21 am ET
Stock Futures Mostly Flat Ahead of Manufacturing Data, Harrah's Report
LONDON (AP) -- U.S. stock futures were basically flat on Monday as the fourth quarter started, with a manufacturing poll's release, a report that Harrah's Entertainment may be bought and a downgrade of Apple Computer possible catalysts to the day's trading.
Dow Jones futures were recently up 4 points, S&P 500 futures rose 1.3 points, and Nasdaq futures were up 1 point.
On Friday, U.S. stocks ended lower, with St. Louis Fed president William Poole saying that any decision to start cutting interest rates may come later rather than sooner. For the third quarter, the S&P 500 rose 5.2 percent, the Dow industrials rose 4.7 percent and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 4 percent.
Monday sees the release of the Institute of Supply Management's poll on manufacturing for September, which is seen slipping to 53.7 percent from 54.5 percent last month.
Similar gauges of manufacturing sentiment were taken overseas. The quarterly tankan survey in Japan showed large manufacturers' sentiment at a two-year high. In the U.K., manufacturing sentiment rose to its best level of the third quarter, while sentiment in countries that use the euro was unchanged at 56.6.
The euro rose slightly on the dollar, while the greenback edged slightly higher on the yen.
Crude-oil futures were down 2 cents at $62.89 a barrel.
Of companies in focus, Harrah's Entertainment is in talks to be bought in what could be one of the biggest leveraged buyout deals ever, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
In Britain, however, shares of online gambling companies dropped after the U.S. Congress surprisingly passed a measure that would outlaw payments from American customers. PartyGaming, the biggest of the online gaming concerns, dropped 59 percent.
Wal-Mart Stores is capping wages, using more part-time workers and scheduling more workers on nights and weekends, The New York Times reported Monday, in what the newspaper said was a move to create a cheaper and more flexible workforce. Investment analysts and store managers say Wal-Mart executives have told them the company wants to transform its work force to 40 percent part-time from 20 percent; Wal-Mart denies this, but say part-timers now make up between 25 percent to 30 percent of workers, the report said.
Apple Computer declined 1.9 percent in German trading after Citigroup downgraded shares to hold. The broker told clients it sees little potential for revenue upside versus consensus in the third or fourth quarter of the year.
But in more positive news for the tech sector, worldwide sales of semiconductors reached an all-time monthly record of $20.5 billion in August, up 10.5 percent from a year ago and 2.1 percent from July, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.
Elsewhere, two Russian firms are merging and acquiring the alumina assets of a Swiss commodities trader in a bid to challenge U.S.-based Alcoa Inc. as the world's biggest aluminum producer, according to a media report Sunday. The deal for Rusal Ltd. to take over smaller domestic rival Sual Group and acquire the assets of Glencore International AG could be announced as early as Monday, the Journal reported.
Johnson & Johnson late Friday said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave it an approvable letter for a schizophrenia treatment, paliperidone extended-release tablets. The letter means the FDA wants more information before giving it approval.
Delta Air Line late Friday said it chopped its losses in the month of August to $11 million, down from a loss of $158 million a year ago. But that was worse than the $69 million profit it reported in July.
Overseas, the Nikkei 225 ended with a rise of 0.8 percent. In Europe, the FTSE 100 rose 0.2 percent and the German DAX 30 was flat.
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