U.S. stock-index futures were
little changed, after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slid the
most in a month on investor concern about the timing of Federal
Reserve interest-rate increases.
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. lost 5.5 percent to $16.65 in post-market New York trading after quarterly profit disappointed analysts. Urban Outfitters Inc. slipped 1.3 percent after saying comparable sales are down so far in the third quarter. Family Dollar Stores Inc. added 1.1 percent as rival Dollar General Corp. took its hostile $9.1 billion takeover bid directly to shareholders.
Palo Alto Networks Inc. climbed 5.2 percent after its sales projection for the first quarter exceeded estimates.
Futures on the S&P 500 expiring this month retreated less than 0.1 percent to 1,989.5 at 7:27 a.m. in New York. The equities gauge has slipped 1 percent in two days, after hitting a record last week, as investors focused on the timing of an interest-rate hike from the Fed. Dow Jones Industrial Average contracts fell 1 point, less than 0.1 percent, to 17,033 today. The benchmark is trading at 16.6 times the projected earnings of its members, near the 16.8 multiple reached on Sept. 5 that was the highest valuation since the end of 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“There’s been some discussion about whether the Fed might tighten the tone, or inject some uncertainty in the market,” said Thomas Thygesen, head of cross-asset strategy at Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB in Copenhagen. “It will be an emotional change for the market when the Fed stops buying bonds in October. We have been used to this support for so many years that being in a world without it is a little scary. It also intensifies the focus on rate hikes.”
Urban Outfitters
Urban Outfitters slipped 1.3 percent to $38.40 after the close of regular trading. Comparable sales have dropped by a low single-digit percentage so far in the three-month period that started Aug. 1, according to a filing late yesterday.
Family Dollar rose 1.1 percent to $79.56 in premarket trading. Dollar General began its offer for all Family Dollar shares at $80 each, according to a statement. Family Dollar’s board last week rejected a bid from Dollar General at that price, citing antitrust hurdles. It has accepted a lower bid from Dollar Tree Inc. instead.
Palo Alto Networks advanced 5.2 percent to $93.90 in early U.S. trading. Sales will be between $178 million and $182 million in the first quarter of its 2015 financial year, the computer security company said in a statement. Analysts had predicted $173.7 million for the period.
Diodes Inc. jumped 6.8 percent to $27.50 in late New York trading. Sales will be at least $230 million in the third quarter, the company predicted, compared with an Aug. 7 forecast for at least $228 million.
