By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
Amazon is set to purchase Whole Foods for $13.7 billion,
according to reports
U.S. stock-index futures pointed to a flat open for Wall Street,
keeping a key technology gauge on track for a weekly loss.
In merger news, Amazon.com Inc.(AMZN), said that it planned to
purchase Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM) in a deal valued at $13.7
billion.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 4 points to 21,324,
while S&P 500 futures added 0.8 point to 2,432.90. Nasdaq-100
futures lost 1 point to 5,708.25.
Meanwhile, Wall Street could see increased volatility during the
session as it is a quadruple-witching day, which means the
simultaneous expiration of stock-index futures, stock index
options, stock options and single stock futures.
Read:Will quadruple witching spook the market this time?
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/will-quadruple-witching-spook-the-market-this-time-2017-06-16)
Wall Street stocks slipped Thursday
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-poised-to-slide-as-fed-signals-full-steam-ahead-on-ending-easy-money-2017-06-15),
driven by yet another decline for big-cap technology names such as
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), though indexes bounced off lows. The Dow
industrials and S&P 500 suffered modest declines, while the
Nasdaq Composite fell 0.5%.
Opinion:Equity-allocation indicator flashes bear-market warning
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/equity-allocation-indicator-flashes-bear-market-warning-2017-06-16)
Data, Fed speaker on tap: Housing starts fell 5.5%
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/home-builders-cut-back-for-third-straight-month-2017-06-16)
to an annual rate of 1.09 million in May, the lowest level in eight
months. Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast starts at a
1.23 million pace.
At 10 a.m. Eastern Time, the University of Michigan June
consumer-sentiment survey will be released.
Dallas Federal Reserve President Rob Kaplan will appear in a
moderated question-and-answer session at the Park Cities Rotary
Club in Dallas at 12:45 p.m. Eastern.
Investors will likely be parsing those comments for clues about
this week's Fed meeting, which resulted in an interest-rate rise, a
pledge to start easing the throttle on its stimulus program and
indications that another rate increase is in the pipeline.
Need to know:Trust in tech stocks and dozens of other growth
names--here's why
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trust-in-tech-stocks-and-dozens-of-other-growth-names-heres-why-2017-06-16)
"Investors had already been digesting the fact that, despite
recent weak U.S. data, the U.S. Federal Reserve appeared
unconcerned about a slowdown in the U.S. economy," said Michael
Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, in a note.
"These two factors combined, along with further weakness in the
U.S. tech sector, played into the risk averse mood among equity
investors as they began to mull the possibility of tighter policy,
not only from the U.S. Federal Reserve, but also the Bank of
England, not to mention the prospect of a discussion on tapering
from the European Central Bank before the end of the year," he
said.
For the week, the Nasdaq is poised to drop 0.7%, with the
S&P 500 flat and the DJIA up 0.4%.
Opinion:The smart money is refusing to buy big tech stocks now
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-smart-money-is-refusing-to-buy-big-tech-stocks-now-2017-06-15)
Stocks to watch: Whole Foods shares are likely to move after
Amazon.com Inc. is slated to purchase the grocery-chain giant for
$13.7 billion or $42 a share. Whole Foods shares were down 0.9%
before being halted on pending news. Amazon shares were up 0.5%
before its trading halt.
Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corp.(ADMP) soared 53% on new the
company's rival to Mylan's EpiPen (MYL) has been approved by the
Food and Drug Administration
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/adamis-pharma-stock-skyrockets-after-rival-epipen-product-gets-fda-approval-2017-06-15).
Other markets: Gains for the dollar slowed some, with the ICE
U.S. Dollar Index , which tracks the buck against a basket of six
rivals, down to 97.365, compared with 97.484 in late North American
trade on Thursday.
However, it traded at Yen111.19 against the Japanese yen, from
Yen110.93 late Thursday in North America. Yen weakness
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/yen-weakens-after-boj-rate-call-dollar-pulls-back-slightly-2017-06-16)came
after the Bank of Japan left key rates and its own stimulus policy
unchanged on Friday.
Asian stocks had a mixed session while European stocks were
trading higher.
Meanwhile, U.S. oil prices rose 0.7%, but were still set for a
weekly loss of 2%
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-set-to-add-to-streak-of-weekly-losses-2017-06-16).
Concerns over a global supply glut has been cutting into oil
prices. Investors will get weekly U.S. oil-rig data later from
Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 16, 2017 09:13 ET (13:13 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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