U.S. stock-index futures are little changed, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index paring its biggest weekly drop since December, as investors await a report on new- home sales.
Nike Inc. (NKE) climbed 0.7 percent in German trading as third- quarter profit at the world’s largest sporting-goods company topped analysts’ estimates. Accenture Plc (ACN) shares advanced 1.7 percent as the world’s second-biggest technology-consulting company raised its full-year earnings forecast to above the average analyst projection.
Futures on the S&P 500 expiring in June gained less than 0.1 percent to 1,389.3 as of 7:08 a.m. in New York. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 11 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,990.
“Recent news accounts for a plausible bottoming in the housing market,” Tobias Levkovich, the chief U.S. equity strategist at Citigroup. Inc., wrote in a report today. “The major trends driving a new U.S. secular bull run are just evolving now.”
U.S. stocks retreated yesterday as manufacturing contracted in China and Europe and FedEx Corp. tumbled amid a disappointing forecast. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 0.7 percent to 1,392.78, slumping 1.2 percent in three days. The gauge is still headed for its longest monthly rally since September 2009 as economic data topped forecasts and the European Central Bankdisbursed more than 1 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) to lenders.
New-Home Sales
New home sales rose to a 325,000 annual rate in February from 321,000 the previous month, according to a Bloomberg News survey of 78 economists ahead of a Commerce Department report at 10 a.m. New York time. That would be the fastest since December 2010.
Nike climbed 0.7 percent to $111.75. Net income in the quarter ended Feb. 29 rose 7.1 percent to $560 million, or $1.20 a share, from $523 million, or $1.08, a year earlier. Analysts projected $1.17 a share, the average of 19 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Nike’s profit has surpassed analysts’ projections in 22 of the past 23 quarters.
Accenture gained 1.7 percent to $64.58 in German trading as it raised its full-year earnings forecast to at least $3.82 a share, beating analysts’ average projection of $3.80.
Micron Technology Inc. fell 3.4 percent to $8.41 in German trading as the largest U.S. maker of computer memory reported a third-consecutive loss after sluggish demand for personal computers dragged down chip prices.
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