20th Jun 2014 12:13
LONDON (Alliance News) - US stock futures are pointing to a broadly flat open Friday, following another record-breaking session on Thursday, but with no US macro-economic data due to be released and with ongoing violence in Iraq, trading is expected to be relatively subdued.
Though setting another record Thursday, US stocks struggled to post significant gains on Wednesday's Federal Reserve-induced rally. The S&P 500 closed up 0.1% at 1,959.48, a record high closing level, while the DJIA closed up 0.1% at 16,921.46, and the NASDAQ Composite closed down 0.1% at 4,359.326.
Similar sentiment is set to continue Friday, with the DJIA, S&P 500, and NASDAQ Composite all called to open little changed.
"US indices will need to find some remarkable strength if they are to finish in anything other than quiet fashion this afternoon," says David Madden, a market analyst at IG. "Without much economic news, Iraq will take centre stage again, and the spectre of Vietnam looms large here as military ?advisers? are despatched," he says.
Worryingly, "there is still plenty of downside risk for the markets right now," says Craig Erlam, a market analyst at Alpari. "Most notably Iraq, where the crisis is likely to get worse before it gets better," he adds.
In the UK, stocks trade firmly higher, with merger & acquisition speculation once again lifting the pharmaceutical and health care sectors. Ahead of the US stock market open, the FTSE 100 is up 0.2% at 6,823.65, the FTSE 250 is up 0.5% at 15,761.18, and the AIM All-Share is up 0.1% at 785.49.
Shire, up 12%, is leading the FTSE 100 higher Friday after US pharmaceutical research and development company AbbVie Inc confirmed that it made three indicative takeover approaches to the British drug maker, all of which have been rejected. Fellow FTSE 100 listing Smith & Nephew also has received a boost from the latest news, currently trading up 2.3%, while, in the FTSE 250, BTG is up 2.8%.
In Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris is down 0.1%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt is up 0.1%.
There is no US data due to be released Friday. However, the preliminary reading of eurozone consumer confidence is released at 1500 BST. The index is expected to rise to minus 6.5 in the month from minus 7.1 in May.
Ahead of the data, the euro trades at USD1.3590, CHF1.2169, and JPY138.666. Meanwhile, the pound continues to trade above the key psychological barrier of USD1.70 at USD1.7043.
By James Kemp; [email protected]; @jamespkemp
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