Wall Street to dip at open; Nasdaq set for fourth straight fall

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were set for a flat open on Friday, putting the S&P 500 on track to close a week of choppy trading with a slight decline, while the Nasdaq was on pace for its worst weekly decline in four.

The S&P 500 <.SPX> has alternated between gains and losses each day this week, and the Nasdaq has dropped for three straight sessions - its longest losing streak since early April - as Internet-related stocks came under pressure.

Apple Inc is close to paying a record $3.2 billion for Beats Electronics, two people with knowledge of the matter said, an expensive foray into music streaming and headphone gear. Apple shares slipped 0.7 percent to $583.91 while Internet radio provider Pandora Media Inc lost 2.5 percent to $64.52.

A proposed $35 billion merger of U.S.-based Omnicom Group Inc and rival France's Publicis Groupe SA has been called off due to complex obstacles to molding the companies into the world's largest advertising agency. Omnicom shares lost 2.2 percent to $64.74 before the opening bell.

S&P 500 e-mini futures fell 3 points and were slightly below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average e-mini futures lost 22 points and Nasdaq 100 e-mini futures declined 7.25 points.

Gap Inc reported a 9 percent increase in comparable sales for April and the apparel company gave a profit forecast that surpassed Wall Street expectations. Shares were up 4.1 percent in premarket trading.

Rocket Fuel Inc , tumbled 28.8 percent to $19.75 in premarket trading after the technology provider for Web-based video advertising forecast current-quarter revenue far below expectations, prompting downgrades from Goldman Sachs and BMO Capital.

Ralph Lauren Corp slumped 6.2 percent to $142.65 after the company said it expected global revenues to rise between 6 percent and 8 percent in fiscal 2015 but warned its operating margin would decline.

Of 445 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings through Thursday morning, 68.2 percent beat expectations, above the 63 percent average since 1994 and the 66 percent beat rate for the past four quarters, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Profits are expected to rise 5.3 percent this quarter, down from 6.5 percent estimated at the start of the year, but above the low of 0.6 percent in mid-April.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Nick Zieminski)

WhatsAppFacebookTwitterLinkedinBeloudBluesky