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* Futures pull back slightly after whistleblower complaint
release
* Peloton IPO could "pep" up markets - analyst
* Beyond Meat shares surge in premarket on McDonald's tie-up
* Facebook dips on reports of antitrust investigation
* Futures: Dow 0.18%, S&P 0.13%, Nasdaq 0.05%
(Adds details, updates comment, numbers)
By Ambar Warrick and Medha Singh
Sept 26 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures pared early
gains on Thursday as investors assessed fresh developments
related to an inquiry for the impeachment President Donald
Trump.
A U.S. House Intelligence Committee on Thursday released a
declassified version of a whistleblower report alleging that
President Donald Trump used his office to solicit interference
in the 2020 presidential election from a foreign country.
The S&P 500 fell as much 1.1% on Tuesday on news that U.S.
Democrats were planning an impeachment inquiry, but recovered on
Wednesday after Trump hinted at a sooner-than-expected trade
deal with China. The benchmark index closed about 1.4% shy of
its record high hit in late-July. Beijing said on Thursday it was in close communication with
the United States and was preparing to make progress with their
trade talks in October. "We need something like a trade deal to get through. Without
that we are just going to bounce around here where you if get
some bad political news, it sells off," said Kim Forrest, Chief
investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners in Pittsburgh.
"Late in the day yesterday President Trump said we could get
a trade deal with China and that's always a formula for markets
going up and we might have some overhang from that."
Forrest also noted that fitness startup Peloton Interactive
Inc's PTON.O top-end priced IPO could add some "pep" to
markets. Trade-sensitive chipmakers rose in premarket trading, with
Advanced Micro Devices Inc AMD.O , Micron Technology Inc MU.O
and Nvidia Corp NVDA.O up between 0.2% and 0.7%. Micron is set
to report its quarterly results later in the day.
Shares in one of this year's market success stories, Beyond
Meat BYND.O , jumped 15.8% as it added McDonald's Corp MCD.N
to the list of clients for its plant-based patties. At 8:54 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 49 points, or
0.18%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 4 points, or 0.13% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 3.75 points, or 0.05%.
Conagra CAG.N rose 3.8% after the packaged food maker beat
Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit, boosted by last
year's purchase of Pinnacle Foods and strong demand for its
frozen food brands. Facebook Inc FB.O slipped 1.0% as a person familiar with
the matter told Reuters that the U.S. Justice Department will
open an antitrust investigation of the social media company.
Leisure cruise operator Carnival Corp CCL.N dropped 2.9%
before the release of its quarterly results.
Accenture plc ACN.N fell 1.3% after the consulting and
outsourcing service provider forecast first-quarter revenue
below analysts' estimates. Futures were little moved after data showed the final
reading of U.S. economic growth for the second quarter remained
unchanged from initial estimates, while unemployment claims rose
slightly last week.