US Futures Down Amid Apple Buyback, Dividend News
U.S. stock futures traded lower Monday as investors digested plans by Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) to pay a $2.65-a-share dividend and buy back $10 billion in stock.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 19 points, or 0.1 percent, to 13144. The Dow fell 20 points, or 0.2 percent, on Friday to snap a seven-session winning streak, but it still posted the biggest weekly point and percentage gain since the week ending Dec. 23, 2011.
Standard & Poor's 500-stock index futures slipped 2 points, or 0.2, to 1396, while Nasdaq 100 futures lost 3 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2706. Apple edged up 0.1 percent in premarket trade after the Cupertino, Calif., company announced its share buyback and first dividend, ending months of speculation about what it planned to do with its massive cash pile.
European markets lost ground as the lack of positive catalysts prompted a pause in the recent string of gains. The Stoxx Europe 600 slipped 0.2 percent and was on track for the first loss in five sessions.
In Asia, stocks were mostly higher. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average edged up 0.1 percent for a fifth consecutive gain and China's Shanghai Composite added on 0.2 percent.
Crude-oil futures rose 0.6 percent to $107.69 a barrel, while gold futures ticked up 0.1 percent to $1,57.70 a troy ounce. The U.S. dollar edged higher against the euro but fell against Japan's yen.
Monday's economic calendar was light, with only a reading on home-builder sentiment in March scheduled for release at 10 a.m. EDT. Investors will get data on housing starts and building permits Tuesday, existing-home sales on Wednesday, jobless claims and leading economic indicators on Thursday and new home sales on Friday.
After the closing bell, Adobe Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: ADBE) is set to post quarterly results. The mean estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters is for a profit of 57 cents a share.
Dun & Bradstreet Corp. (NYSE: DNB), which provides commercial information on businesses, said local employees in China may have violated U.S. anti-bribery laws. It suspended operations at a local unit while it conducts an inquiry.
In corporate news, United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) said it agreed to buy Dutch package-shipping rival TNT Express NV (Amsterdam: TNTE) for the equivalent of about $6.8 billion in cash. UPS's stock gained 1 percent ahead of Monday's open.
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