(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer) US stock futures slipped on Friday after a government release showed that durable goods orders unexpectedly fell 2.5% in August.
At 8:32 am ET, the S&P 500 futures retreated 2.1 points to 1042.20. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dropped 10 points to 9625. The Nasdaq Composite futures fell 6 points to 1693.5.
According to US Department of Commerce, orders for durable goods tumbled 2.4% in August. Economists on average had projected a rise of 0.4%.
Late on Thursday, McDonald's Corp. (NYSE:
MCD) announced that its board has raised its quarterly dividend 10 percent to 55 cents from 50 cents.
Shares of Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ:
RIMM) tumbled in pre-market trading on Friday, a day after it announced that its fiscal second- quarter earnings slipped 4% to $475.6 million, or 83 cents per share, compared with earnings of $495.5 million, or 86 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. On an adjusted basis, the company earned $588.4 million, or $1.03 per share, for the recent period. Quarterly revenue surged 37% to $3.53 billion. Looking ahead to the third quarter, the company said that it expects to report earnings in the range of $1 to $1.08 a share and revenue in the range of $3.6 billion to $3.85 billion. Analysts currently expect to report third quarter earnings of $1.05 a share on revenue of $3.92 billion.
Early on Friday, KB Home (NYSE:
KBH) said that its fiscal third-quarter net loss narrowed to $66 million, or 87 cents a share, from $144.7 million, or $1.87 a share, in the prior year period. Total revenue plunged 33% to $458.5 million, while net orders jumped 62% to 2,158 units.
Anglo-Dutch food and household goods giant Unilever NV (NYSE:
UL) announced on Friday that it has agreed to buy businesses including the Sanex and Duschdas brands from Sara Lee Corp. (NYSE: SLE) for 1.28 billion euros ($1.88 billion) in cash.
On the economic front, University of Michigan/Reuters consumer sentiment index and new home sales data is due for release at 10:00 am ET. Investors will also be focusing n the Group of 20 meeting of the world's leading economies.
US stocks finished down on Thursday as weaker-than-expected housing data spooked investors. Stocks also came under pressure due to a steep drop in oil prices.
European stocks advanced in afternoon trade. At 12:34 pm London time, the UK FTSE rose 29.39 points or 0.58% to 5,108.66. The German DAX and French CAC increased 0.08% and 0.05% respectively.
Asian stocks finished lower. The Nikkei 225 fell 278.24 points or 2.64% to 10,265.98. The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong dropped 26.33 points or 0.13% to 21024.40.
NYMEX crude oil for November delivery climbed as much as 41 cents or 0.4% to $66.16 a barrel in electronic trading.
Disclosure: Author doesn't own any of the stocks discussed here.
