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* China casts doubts about long-term trade deal -BBG
* Apple, Facebook gain on upbeat earnings
* Starbucks rises on same-store sales, revenue beat
* Futures down: Dow 0.21%, S&P 0.20%, Nasdaq 0.10%
(Adds comments, updates market action)
By Arjun Panchadar
Oct 31 (Reuters) - Wall Street was set to open lower on
Thursday as uncertainty around a potential trade deal between
the United States and China overshadowed strong earnings reports
from Apple and Facebook.
Chinese officials have doubts about whether it is possible
to reach a comprehensive long-term trade deal with Washington
and U.S. President Donald Trump, Bloomberg reported earlier in
the day. "This headline news (on trade) is giving investors a reason
to take some profits off the table," said Peter Cardillo, chief
market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
The tariff war between the world's two biggest economies has
disrupted supply chains and roiled financial markets for more
than a year, escalating fears of a global slowdown.
The U.S. Federal Reserve lowered borrowing costs for the
third time this year on Wednesday to help sustain domestic
growth despite a slowdown in other parts of the world, but
signalled there would be no further reductions unless the
economy takes a turn for the worse. Hopes of a trade deal and an interest rate cut as well as a
largely better-than-expected earnings season had pushed the S&P
500 to a record high earlier this week.
Apple Inc AAPL.O rose 1.4% in premarket trading after the
iPhone maker forecast sales for the holiday shopping quarter
ahead of expectations. Facebook Inc FB.O jumped 4.2% after reporting an uptick in
users in lucrative markets and its third straight rise in
quarterly sales growth. On the economic front, data showed U.S. consumer spending
rose marginally in September, while wages were unchanged,
casting doubts on consumers' ability to continue driving the
economy amid a deepening slump in business investment. A separate report showed the number of Americans filing
applications for unemployment benefits rose slightly more than
expected last week. The Labor Department's jobs data on Friday is expected to
shed light on the strength of the U.S. economy.
"In general on the vigil of the key data of the month which
is the employment data tomorrow, investors tend to hold off any
bets until they digest the numbers," Cardillo added.
At 8:36 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were down 57 points,
or 0.21%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were down 6 points, or 0.2%
and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were down 8.5 points, or 0.1%.
Among other stocks, Starbucks Corp SBUX.O climbed 2.6% as
the coffee chain topped quarterly same-store sales and revenue
estimates. Twitter Inc TWTR.N dropped 1.2% after the company said it
will ban political advertising on its platform next month.
Ride-hailing company Lyft Inc LYFT.O gained 4.1% as its
higher-than-expected quarterly revenue and an improved outlook
showed it was well on its way to profitability by the end of
2021.