Futures lower after China policy comments; housing data due

22/09/2014 - 12:33

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were falling on Monday, putting the S&P 500 on track to pull back from near-record levels after China's finance minister indicated the country will not increase stimulus measures and ahead of data on the housing market.

* China will not dramatically alter its economic policy because of any one economic indicator, Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said on Sunday, in remarks that came days after many economists lowered growth forecasts having seen the latest set of weak data.

* U.S. existing home sales data for August is due at 10 a.m.. Expectations call for existing home sales to increase to an annual rate of 5.2 million units versus 5.15 million in July.

* Sigma-Aldrich shares are trading up 35.2 percent to $138.35 in premarket. German drugs and chemicals maker Merck KGaA said on Monday it agreed to acquire Sigma-Aldrich for $17 billion in cash to boost its life science business.

* Germany's Siemens has agreed to buy U.S. oilfield equipment maker Dresser-Rand for $7.6 billion in cash, aiming to catch up with arch-rival General Electric in a booming U.S. shale gas market. Dresser-Rand shares were up 2.6 percent to $81.99 in premarket after climbing more than 17 percent last week in anticipation of the deal.

* S&P 500 e-minis were falling 6.5 points, or 0.32 percent, with 145,833 contracts changing hands.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 14 points, or 0.34 percent, in volume of 23,555 contracts.

* Dow e-minis <1YMc1> were down 37 points, or 0.21 percent, with 27,394 contracts changing hands.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)