Business Standard

Wall Street set to open little changed; oil skids

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Reuters

By Tanya Agrawal and Anya George Tharakan

REUTERS - U.S. stocks looked set to open little changed on Tuesday, a day after stocks posted their worst performance in nearly a month, as a post-election rally appeared to have run its course.

Investors fretted about a near 3 percent drop in oil prices as OPEC producers struggled to agree to a production freeze to reduce global oversupply.

As many as eighteen of the top 20 percentage losers among S&P components in premarket trading were either miners or oil and gas producers or providers of services to the energy industry.

Wall Street closed lower on Monday, dragged down by financial and consumer discretionary sectors, as some investors booked profits on the heels of a record-setting week.

 

U.S. stocks have rallied since Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election, with the S&P 500 up nearly 3 percent, as investors expect his plans to increase infrastructure spending, cut corporate taxes and reduce regulation to boost the economy.

"I believe that the strong rally has now played out, and now we're going to have a choppy market," said Andre Bakhos, managing director at Janlyn Capital.

"The market is looking for a keyhole view into a Trump economic world and until we get clarity, we're going to have choppy behavior."

Data showed the U.S. economy grew faster than initially thought in the third quarter.

Gross domestic product increased at a 3.2 percent annual rate instead of the previously reported 2.9 percent pace, the Commerce Department said in its second GDP estimate.

Dow e-minis were up 11 points, or 0.06 percent, with 20,684 contracts changing hands at 8:32 a.m. ET (1332 GMT).

S&P 500 e-minis were up 1.25 points, or 0.06 percent, with 110,539 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 2.5 points, or 0.05 percent, on volume of 14,183 contracts.

An S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller report is expected to show its 20-city index rose 5.2 percent in September, while another report at 10 a.m. ET is expected to show that consumer confidence increased in November.

Fed Governor Jerome Powell will speak on the economic outlook in Indiana at 12:40 p.m. ET.

Traders are pricing in an 89 percent chance for a rate hike in December, according to Thomson Reuters data. The Fed next meets on Dec. 13-14.

Tiffany was up 5.1 percent at $82.13 after the upscale jeweler reported its first rise in sales in eight quarters.

Shoe Carnival fell 13.5 percent to $26.20 after the footwear retailer reported lower-than-expected third-quarter results.

UnitedHealth rose 2.5 percent to $156 after the health insurer updated its outlook.

(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

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First Published: Nov 29 2016 | 8:10 PM IST

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