Wall Street set to open little changed

Reuters 

By Yashaswini Swamynathan

(Reuters) - Wall St looked set to open flat on Friday as technology shares steadied following a rout that was triggered by concerns of stretched valuations.

Technology stocks, including those of Apple , Microsoft and Facebook , were slightly higher in premarket trading as investors likely hunted for bargains.

The S&P 500 technology sector, which had surged 17.4 percent in 2017, is on track for its biggest weekly decline since June last year.

"The characteristics of the markets this week have actually been positive because we've opened lower but, at the end of the day, we make it back to being unchanged. So I think investors are still willing to come in and buy the dips," said Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago, Illinois.

"Technology has been on the top of the pile for the past six to nine months, which is unusual. So we will likely continue to see this sector rotation."

Oil prices were also seeing a rebound, rising about 0.6 percent on Friday after hitting their lowest this year amid oversupply worries. [O/R]

At 8:32 a.m. ET Dow e-minis <1ymc1> were up 14 points, or 0.07 percent, with 2,711 contracts changing hands.

S&P 500 e-minis were up 1.75 points, or 0.07 percent, with 32,889 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 3 points, or 0.05 percent, on volume of 3,317 contracts.

Investors will keep a close watch on comments from Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan, who is the first Fed member to speak after the central bank raised interest rates on Wednesday. Kaplan is scheduled to speak in Dallas at 12:45 p.m. ET (1645 GMT).

Booz Allen dropped 12.9 percent to $34.26 after the consultancy firm said the U.S. Department of Justice was investigating the company for some of the ways it charged the government for services and accounted for costs. [nL3N1JC5EC] Valeant was up 4.6 percent at $12.68 after Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage of the stock with "overweight" rating.

Dow component Nike were down nearly 2 percent after JPMorgan downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "overweight".

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Sruthi Shankar; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Wall Street set to open little changed

(Reuters) - Wall St looked set to open flat on Friday as technology shares steadied following a rout that was triggered by concerns of stretched valuations.

By Yashaswini Swamynathan

(Reuters) - Wall St looked set to open flat on Friday as technology shares steadied following a rout that was triggered by concerns of stretched valuations.

Technology stocks, including those of Apple , Microsoft and Facebook , were slightly higher in premarket trading as investors likely hunted for bargains.

The S&P 500 technology sector, which had surged 17.4 percent in 2017, is on track for its biggest weekly decline since June last year.

"The characteristics of the markets this week have actually been positive because we've opened lower but, at the end of the day, we make it back to being unchanged. So I think investors are still willing to come in and buy the dips," said Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago, Illinois.

"Technology has been on the top of the pile for the past six to nine months, which is unusual. So we will likely continue to see this sector rotation."

Oil prices were also seeing a rebound, rising about 0.6 percent on Friday after hitting their lowest this year amid oversupply worries. [O/R]

At 8:32 a.m. ET Dow e-minis <1ymc1> were up 14 points, or 0.07 percent, with 2,711 contracts changing hands.

S&P 500 e-minis were up 1.75 points, or 0.07 percent, with 32,889 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 3 points, or 0.05 percent, on volume of 3,317 contracts.

Investors will keep a close watch on comments from Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan, who is the first Fed member to speak after the central bank raised interest rates on Wednesday. Kaplan is scheduled to speak in Dallas at 12:45 p.m. ET (1645 GMT).

Booz Allen dropped 12.9 percent to $34.26 after the consultancy firm said the U.S. Department of Justice was investigating the company for some of the ways it charged the government for services and accounted for costs. [nL3N1JC5EC] Valeant was up 4.6 percent at $12.68 after Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage of the stock with "overweight" rating.

Dow component Nike were down nearly 2 percent after JPMorgan downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "overweight".

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Sruthi Shankar; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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