US Stocks Futures flat as Wall St set to take breather after rally

by **hlk** Wed 01 May 2013, 08:10

Business & Markets 2013
Written by Reuters
Tuesday, 30 April 2013 19:57
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* Wall St investors set to take profits after S&P closes at record
* Fed's FOMC begins 2-day monetary policy meeting
* Slew of consumer data on tap
* Futures: S&P down 1.7 pts, Dow falls 1 pts, Nasdaq off 0.25 pt
NEW YORK, April 30 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were little
changed on Tuesday as Wall Street was set to take a breather after
extending its recent rally with the S&P 500 setting another record close.
* The S&P 500 index ended at an all-time high on Monday as growthoriented
stocks, including energy and TECHNOLOGY [], lead the way
to the index's sixth rise in the past seven sessions. A positive finish to
April would deliver a sixth straight month of gains. That would be the
longest winning streak since September 2009 when the index rallied for
seven straight months. The broad market index is up 1.6 percent for the
month.
* The Federal Open Market Committee begins its two-day meeting on
monetary policy, with results scheduled to be announced on
Wednesday. A recent slew of weak U.S. growth data has raised
expectations the Federal Reserve will keep its pace of bond buying at
$85 billion a month.
* S&P 500 futures fell 1.8 points and were slightly below fair value, a
formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration of the contract. Dow
Jones industrial average futures fell 1 points and Nasdaq 100 futures was down 0.25 point.
* In macroeconomic news, the U.S. employment cost index is due at 8:30 a.m. ET (1230 GMT) and the S&P/Case-Shiller
home-price index for February is due at 9 a.m. ET. The Chicago purchasing managers' index for April will be released at 9:45
a.m. ET and the Conference Board's April consumer confidence index is due at 10:00 a.m. ET.
* On the corporate earnings front, Pfizer Inc shares were down 3 percent in premarket trade after the company reported
weaker-than-expected results.