Thursday September 24, 10:49 AM
U.S. stock futures signal dip; Electronic Arts eyed
* U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Thursday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.26 percent, Dow Jones (news) futures down 0.27 percent and Nasdaq 100 (NASDAQ: news) futures down 0.14 percent at 0910 GMT.
* Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS - news) will be in focus after Phil Spencer, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios, said Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT - news) has no plans to acquire the video game publisher. Electronic Arts shares jumped more than 8 percent on Wednesday on market talk of a Microsoft bid. Electronic Arts stock traded in Frankfurt was down 4.9 percent.
* The video game sector will also be in focus after Nintendo Co Ltd (Berlin: NTO.BE - news) said it will cut the price of its popular Wii video game console by 20 percent, responding to similar cuts by rivals Sony Corp and Microsoft, aimed at kick-starting demand.
* The financial services sector will be in the spotlight after shares of Japanese consumer lender Aiful Corp fell more than 10 percent for the second straight day, hit by concern that drastic restructuring may not be enough for it to ride out sweeping regulatory changes.
* Aiful (Berlin: AAU.BE - news) said it now expects a $3.4 billion loss for the year to March 2010, and will halve its workforce and cut its branch network to reduce costs. The company, which has lost nearly 99 percent of its market value in a little less than four years, last week asked creditors for permission to delay repayments on $3 billion in debt.
* Oil prices extended losses and fell closer toward $68 a barrel on Thursday, while the dollar softened against higher-yielding currencies as investors shifted their funds away from the greenback on expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rate very low for a long time.
* On the M&A front, Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT - news) has made an offer to buy the drug unit of Belgian conglomerate Solvay SA (Brussels: SOLB.BR - news) , the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.
* Investors will keep an eye on a meeting of the G20 leaders in Pittsburgh that starts on Thursday, looking for clues on when governments might start rolling back measures to revive their economies.
* On the macro side, investors will keep an eye on monthly existing home sales data, due at 1400 GMT, as well as weekly jobless claims, expected at 1230 GMT.
* Sales of existing homes probably rose for a fifth consecutive month in August, reaching their highest level in two years as buyers scrambled to take advantage of greater affordability and a first-time home buyer tax credit.
* The survey of 71 economists polled by Reuters forecast sales of previously owned homes climbed to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.35 million in August, the fastest pace since 5.5 million units were sold in August 2007, and up from 5.24 million units in July.
* European stocks were down 0.9 percent in morning trade, halting a two-day winning run, with weakening commodity prices dragging down shares of heavyweight resource-related stocks such as Total (FP.NX - news) and BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT.L - news) , while banks also retreated.
* Japan's Nikkei (news) average rose 1.7 percent to a one-month closing high on Thursday, lifted by exporters such as Kyocera Corp as investors played catch-up after returning from a string of public holidays.
* U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday as investors worried the Federal Reserve is closer to pulling back on extraordinary measures to inject funding to shore up the economy.
* The Dow Jones industrial average shed 81.32 points, or 0.83 percent, to 9,748.55. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index declined 10.79 points, or 1.01 percent, to 1,060.87. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 14.88 points, or 0.69 percent, to 2,131.42.
(Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Rupert Winchester) Keywords: MARKETS STOCKS US EUROPE
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