U.S. stock futures down as Apple drops; Dow futures shed 0.1%

Investing.com – U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open on Tuesday, after China raised its benchmark interest rate for the second time this year and as investors awaited the release of the minutes of the most recent meeting of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting.
 
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed a loss of 0.11%, the S&P 500 futures indicated a drop of 0.35%, while Nasdaq 100 futures slumped 0.65%.

Earlier in the day, the People’s Bank of China raised its benchmark interest rate by 0.25% to 6.31% in an effort to curb inflation and limit the risk of asset bubbles in the world’s fastest-growing major economy.

Meanwhile, shares in consumer electronics giant Apple slumped 2.5% in pre-market trade after Nasdaq OMX Group, operator of the Nasdaq exchange said Apple would have its weighting in the index reduced to 12.3% from the current 20.5% as part of changes to better reflect market capitalizations. The changes will take effect on May 2.

Microsoft’s weighting would increase to 8.3%, while Cisco Systems would see its weighting more than double to 3.6% from 1.5%, according to Nasdaq. Microsoft shares climbed 2.1% while Cisco advanced 1.1% following the announcement. 

Shares in the fifth-largest U.S. homebuilder KB Home tumbled 6.5% after it said its first quarter loss widened to USD114.5 million, compared to a loss of USD54.5 million a year earlier. Revenue in the quarter fell by 25% to USD196.9 million, as the homebuilder delivered fewer homes and net orders declined.

In deal news, shares in National Semiconductor soared 71.7% after chip giant Texas Instruments agreed to purchase the company for approximately USD6.5 billion, in an effort to expand its analog semiconductors business. Shares in TI dropped 3.25% ahead of the open.

Other stocks in focus included online travel company Expedia and American Airlines, which announced that they reached a memorandum of understanding to resume business with each other, effective immediately.

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were down as shares in the financial sector led losses after Moody’s downgraded Portugal’s debt. The EURO STOXX 50 fell 0.6%, France’s CAC 40 slumped 0.55%, Germany's DAX shed 0.3%, while Britain's FTSE 100 dipped 0.35%.

During the Asian trading session, Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index closed 1.1% lower as market sentiment was weighed by ongoing concerns over Japan’s deepening nuclear crisis.

Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish data on service sector growth while the Fed was to publish the minutes of its most recent policy setting meeting.

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