Wall St to open flat as Honeywell, Aetna weigh
Stocks were poised to open little changed on Monday as reduced outlooks from diversified manufacturer Honeywell Inc
Honeywell shares fell 2.5 percent to $33.18 before the bell after the company cut its full-year profit forecast to the bottom of its prior range.
No. 3 U.S. health insurer Aetna cut its full-year earnings outlook due to higher-than-projected medical costs and posted a 28 percent drop in second-quarter net income. The stock slid 10.2 percent to $23.75.
With the broader market up nearly 45 percent since it hit 12-year lows in early March, some investors were likely to book profits as they reassess the sustainability of the latest run-up.
Honeywell said the outlook remains cloudy, setting the stage for a mixed session today, said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners in New York. The market has come up rather sharply, so obviously it is poised for some profit-taking.
S&P 500 futures shed 0.50 points and were slightly above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures dipped 10 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 1 point.
Boeing Co In other earnings-related news, Verizon Communications Inc Verizon shares initially rose 7 percent to $31.90, but the bounce quickly faded, and the stock dipped 1.4 percent to $31.06. A rise in commodity prices along with a weaker U.S. dollar was set to underpin energy and other natural resource stocks. Before the bell, shares of global miner Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc New home sales data is due at 10 a.m. (1400 GMT) All three major U.S. stock indexes recorded a second consecutive weekly gain last week. Since hitting multi-year lows in early March, the S&P 500 has jumped 44.8 percent, the Nasdaq has surged almost 55 percent, and the Dow has risen about 39 percent. (Reporting by Ellis Mnyandu; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
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