Business Blog Posts: Stock index futures signal pause after selloff

Stock index futures signal pause after selloff

Addison Ray

NEW YORK | Thu Jan 20, 2011 5:58am EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures pointed to a flat open on Wall Street on Thursday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.03 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.03 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.06 percent at 4:40 a.m. EST.

* EBay (EBAY.O) will be in the spotlight after the online marketplace provided investors with a bullish 2011 profit outlook after the holiday quarter showed signs it is delivering a promised turnaround, as improvements in its buyer experience helped boost sales at its marketplaces unit. The company's stock traded in Frankfurt (EBAY.F) was up 1.8 percent.

* Seagate Technology Plc (STX.O) reported sharply lower quarterly profit on flagging demand for its computer hard drives and forecast a dip in profit margins this quarter as selling prices continue to erode.

* Ford Motor (F.N) is in talks with its Chinese partner, Chongqing Changan Automobile Co (000625.SZ), to export China-made Ford vehicles to emerging markets, two people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

* The top executive of Procter & Gamble (PG.N) will take corporate America's case for a lower tax rate to U.S. lawmakers on Thursday, and also call for an end to taxation of foreign-earned profits.

* On the earnings front, investors awaited a flurry of results from companies such as Google (GOOG.O), Johnson Controls (JCI.N), Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.N).

* Google is expected to report a 22 percent jump in fourth-quarter revenue thanks to a busy holiday season, though it will face questions about long-term growth.

* On the macro front, investors awaited weekly jobless claims, leading indicators for December and existing home sales for December.

* Airline companies will be in focus after Australia's largest airline Qantas Airways (QAN.AX) flagged an industry-wide rise in airfares to help offset soaring oil prices that threaten to stall the global aviation sector's recovery.

* The euro slipped against the dollar on Thursday as weaker global shares stifled appetite for higher-risk currencies, prompting investors to book profits on the single currency's rally to a two-month high.

* Japan's Nikkei average fell on Thursday as weaker-than-expected earnings by key U.S. technology and banking firms, strong Chinese growth data and a weaker dollar prompted investors to lock in profits.

* European stocks were down slightly in morning trade, extending the previous sell-off, led lower by cyclical mining and tech shares, which have strongly gained over the past few months.

* The S&P 500 suffered its biggest decline in nearly two months on Wednesday as disappointing results from Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo put a damper on the rally.

* The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 12.64 points, or 0.11 percent, to 11,825.29. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX lost 13.10 points, or 1.01 percent, to 1,281.92. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC dropped 40.49 points, or 1.46 percent, to 2,725.36.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Hans Peters)