* Tiffany’s up on 4th-qtr profit beat * Adobe jumps on strong quarterly results * Futures: Dow up 16 pts, S&P down 1 pt, Nasdaq up 2.5 pts (Adds details, comments, updates prices) By Anya George Tharakan March 17 (Reuters) – U.S. stocks looked set to open littlechanged on Friday as investors sought fresh cues to place theirbets after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates for thefirst time this year. Finance ministers and central bank heads from the Group of20 major economies meet in Germany for two days to discuss theworld economy. Members are likely to renounce competitive devaluations andwarn against exchange rate volatility, but have not yet found acommon stance on trade and protectionism, according to a draftstatement of their meeting. “Today it appears as though we’re going to have another daylike yesterday, where the market is looking for somethingsubstantial to create the next move,” said Andre Bakhos,managing director at Janlyn Capital in Bernardsville, NewJersey. Investors are now turning their attention to economic data,while also seeking clarity on President Donald Trump’s proposedpolicies such as tax cuts and looser regulations. A report from the Federal Reserve is expected to show thatindustrial production rebounded by 0.2 percent in February afterfalling 0.3 percent the previous month. The data is due at 9:15a.m. ET (1315 GMT). Separately, a report from the University of Michigan isexpected to show the preliminary reading of the consumersentiment index rose to 97 in March from 95.7 in February. Thedata is expected at 10:00 a.m. ET. Dow e-minis were up 16 points, or 0.08 percent at8:23 a.m. ET, with 1,936 contracts changing hands. S&P 500 e-minis were down 1 point, or 0.04 percent,with 25,037 contracts traded. Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 2.5 points, or 0.05percent, on volume of 2,147 contracts. Wall Street slipped on Thursday, pressured by healthcareshares as traders cashed in gains from one of the bestperforming sectors so far this year. Tiffany’s shares rose 3.5 percent to $93.10, afterthe company posted a better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit,boosted by strong demand for its high-end jewelry in Japan andChina. Valeant was up 4.4 percent at $11.69 in premarkettrading after ValueAct Capital raised its stake in the drugcompany. Adobe was up 5.2 percent at $128.73 after thecompany posted better-than-expected quarterly results, buoyed bydemand for its Creative Cloud package of software tools, whichincludes Photoshop. (Reporting by Anya George Tharakan and Yashaswini Swamynathanin Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
July 26, 2024
