Stock Futures Up Ahead Of Apple Earnings, Fed Meeting Later This Week

U.S. stock index futures were up slightly on Monday after the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 chalked up record high closes on Friday and ahead of Apple’s (AAPL.O) results after the close.

Investors this week will also be closely watching the results of the two-day U.S. Federal Reserve meeting, starting Tuesday, for clues on when interest rates could be hiked.

Strong results from tech giants pushed the Nasdaq to end at 5,092.09 on Friday, its second straight record high close. The S&P 500 rose 0.23 percent to a record high close of 2,117.69 points, just above its previous high of 2,117.39 set on March 2.

While markets are at record highs, March-quarter earnings of S&P 500 companies are expected to dip 1.3 percent, with revenue dropping 3.5 percent as a strong dollar hurts U.S. multinationals and low oil prices weigh on energy companies, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Applied Materials (AMAT.O) slumped 8.3 percent to $20 in premarket trading after the chipmaker’s proposed $10 billion merger with Tokyo Electron (8035.T) was abandoned over U.S. regulatory concerns.

Celladon (CLDN.O) plunged 77.6 percent to $3.06 after the company said its heart failure gene therapy, Mydicar, failed to meet its main goals in an important trial.

Time Warner Cable (TWC.N) gained 1.1 percent to $157 on news that Charter Communications’ (CHTR.O) representatives had reached out to begin discussions on a potential merger. Comcast (CMCSA.O) on Friday dropped its plans to merge with Time Warner Cable.

Earnings expected on Monday include General Growth Properties (GGP.N) and Hartford Financial Services (HIG.N).

Data expected includes U.S. services sector numbers for April from financial firm Markit at 9:45 a.m. EDT.

World shares hit a new high, led by China, though the rally faded in Europe as investors looked ahead to central bank meetings in the United States and worried over Greece.

Futures snapshot at 7:20 EDT:
S&P 500 e-minis ESc1 were up 4.5 points, or 0.21 percent, with 107,805 contracts changing hands.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQc1 were up 12.25 points, or 0.27 percent, on volume of 18,474 contracts.

Dow e-minis 1YMc1 were up 46 points, or 0.26 percent, with 18,632 contracts changing hands.

REUTERS