US STOCKS-Wall St to open slightly lower on Amazon results, Ebola worry
24/10/2014 14:29
* Amazon tumbles, Microsoft climbs after earnings
* New home sales data due
(Adds quote, updates prices)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Oct 24 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were set for a
slightly lower open on Friday, putting the S&P 500 on track to
cut its weekly advance, following disappointing earnings from
Amazon and as the first diagnosed case of Ebola in New York City
raised concerns about the spread of the virus.
Amazon AMZN.O plunged 9.5 percent to $283.40 in premarket
trade after the online retailer's sales projections for the
crucial holiday quarter disappointed Wall Street and
third-quarter results missed forecasts. ID:nL2N0SI2S1
Microsoft MSFT.O , up 4.6 percent at $47.09 before the
opening bell, may help curb declines after it reported
higher-than-expected quarterly revenue while keeping its profit
margins largely intact. ID:nL2N0SI2SJ
Procter & Gamble PG.N gained 2.4 percent to $85.22 in
premarket after the world's largest household products maker
posted quarterly results and said it would split its Duracell
battery business into a separate company. ID:nL3N0SJ4NZ
The S&P 500 .SPX is up 3.4 percent for the week, putting
the index on pace for its first weekly gain in five, powered
largely by solid corporate earnings reports. The benchmark index
is down 3 percent from its record high on Sept. 18.
"The market is nervous, people are really paying attention
now, you've seen volatility come back big time," said John De
Clue, chief investment officer of the Private Client Reserve at
U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
"We were lulled into a sense of complacency and now the
market is on high alert, people perceive both threats and
opportunities and they are poised to take action pretty
quickly."
Concerns over the spread of Ebola continued to vex the
market. A doctor who worked in West Africa with Ebola patients
was in an isolation unit in New York City on Friday after
testing positive for the virus, becoming the fourth person
diagnosed with the disease in the United States and the first in
its largest city. ID:nL2N0SJ0HO
Futures managed to pare losses in choppy premarket action
after the World Health Organization set out plans on Friday for
speeding up development and deployment of experimental Ebola
vaccines, saying hundreds of thousands of doses should be ready
for use in West Africa by the middle of 2015. ID:nL6N0SJ25S
S&P 500 e-mini futures ESc1 were down 2.75 points and
fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into
account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the
contract, indicated a slightly lower open. Dow Jones industrial
average e-mini futures 1YMc1 fell 12 points and Nasdaq 100
e-mini futures NQc1 lost 4.75 points.
Ford Motor Co's F.N third-quarter earnings beat Wall
Street expectations on a strong showing in North America and
China. Shares of the automaker edged up 0.4 percent to $14.45 in
premarket trade. ID:nL2N0SJ0K8
New home sales data for September is due at 10:00 a.m. (1400
GMT). Expectations call for a seasonally adjusted annual rate of
470,000 units, down from the 504,000 in the prior month.
Ebola-related shares advanced over worries about a possible
spread of the virus. Biotechnology company Ibio Inc IBIO.A
jumped 9.2 percent to $1.78, hazmat suits maker Lakeland
Industries Inc LAKE.O surged 10.8percent to $16.91 and face
mask maker Alpha Pro Tech Ltd APT.A climbed 17.6 percent to
$5.41 before the opening bell.
(Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
((charles.mikolajczak@thomsonreuters.com; @ChuckMik; +1 646 223
5234; Reuters Messaging:
charles.mikolajczak.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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