U.S. stock futures gave up some ground nearer the open Tuesday but remained in the black as consumer prices rose slightly as expected while markets chewed on remarks made by St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard in London.
At an event in London, Bullard said that retaining interest rates at zero in the U.S. is no longer appropriate but that if the Fed were to raise interest rates in the summer, the monetary policy would nevertheless remain “accommodative.”
In economic data out Tuesday, the February consumer price index rose 0.2% as expected from January, when it fell 0.7%. The consensus range was between a 0.1% and a 0.7% gain, according to data compiled by Econoday.
The FHFA house price index for January meanwhile only rose 0.3% in January, missing the expected 0.5% increase. In December house prices rose 0.8%. The consensus range was between a gain of 0.3% and 1.7%. At 10:00 a.m., another housing data point is expected to show 462,000 new home sales in February compared to 481,000 in January. The consensus range is between 433,000 and 485,000.
Meanwhile, at 9:45 a.m., the flash Markit PMI manufacturing index for March is expected to have edged down to 54.7 for March compared to the final 55.1 in February.
In equities, Whiting Petroleum ( WLL ) plunged over 20% in recent pre-market trade after announcing a stock and notes offering late Monday to repay debt. Communications technology company Sonus Networks ( SONS ) also dropped, by nearly a third, when it came off a trade halt at 8:00 a.m. after cutting its Q1 revenue projections and predicting a loss.
U.S. PRE-MARKET INDICATORS
-Dow Jones Industrial up 0.19%
-S&P 500 futures up 0.17%
-Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.17%
-Nasdaq 100 pre-market indicator up 0.13%
GLOBAL SENTIMENT
Nikkei down 0.21%
Hang Seng down 0.39%
Shanghai Composite up 0.02%
FTSE-100 up 0.09%
DAX-30 down 0.02%
PRE-MARKET SECTOR WATCH
(+/-) Large cap tech: mixed
(+/-) Chip stocks: mixed
(+) Software stocks: unchanged to higher
(+) Hardware stocks: unchanged to higher
(+) Internet stocks: higher
(+) Drug stocks: higher
(+/-) Financial stocks: mixed
(+) Retail stocks: unchanged to higher
(+) Industrial stocks: unchanged to higher
(-) Airlines: lower
(+/-) Autos: mixed
UPSIDE MOVERS
(+) CHK (+3.3%) Cuts 2015 production guidance, lowers capital budget
(+) RADA (+6.9%) Extends gains after Lockheed Martin laser weapon deal
(+) HEB (+13.0%) Gets positive EU opinion on Ebola treatment
(+) ISR (+12.3%) To present gynecologic cancers successfully treated with Cesium-131
(+) ARIA (+2.9%) Gets Israel OK for Iclusig to treat two leukemias
(+) DGLY (+21.3%) To offer mixed shelf of up to $ 25 million
(+) BLRX (+2.6%) Posts narrower 2014 loss
(+) LINE (+5.3%) LinnCo Gets $ 1 billion investment from Quantum Energy Partners
(+) GNVC (+5.9%) Swings to better-than-expected Q4 profit
(+) CMI (+1.2%) Baird lifts rating to outperform vs neutral
(+) FIVE (+1.7%) Buckingham initiates with buy rating; $ 39 PT
(+) PSTI (+3.2%) Seeks to start clinical trials on PLX-R18 in two indications
(+) XEL (+0.8%) Barclays raises rating to overweight vs equalweight
(+) ATOS (+11.7%) Launches FullCYTE breast aspirator in the U.S.
(+) CYBX (+1.9%) To merge with Italy’s Sorin
DOWNSIDE MOVERS
(-) BRX (-0.8%) Prices secondary offering of 22.5 million shares at $ 26.38 each
(-) FCX (-1.7%) Cuts quarterly dividend by 84% due to lower commodity prices
(-) KW (-3.3%) Plans to sell 7.5 million shares
(-) ANET (-1.5%) Shareholder Sita Foundation to sell $ 1.4 million of shares
(-) HTGC (-3.8%) Selling 6.6 million shares in public offering
(-) JRJC (-19.2%) Q4 revenue declines
(-) HDS (-1.7%) Sets Q1 view below Street
(-) OCN (-5.3%) Gets delisting warning from NYSE
(-) CHSP (-0.9%) Upsizes public offering to 4 million shares; sees $ 136 million gross proceeds
(-) PGR (-0.5%) Goldman Sachs downgrades to neutral vs buy