By Adam Haigh
(Corrects to remove reference to German trading in second and ninth paragraphs.)
June 25 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures drifted between gains and losses as better-than-estimated earnings from Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. offset a slump in orders at Nike Inc.
Bed Bath & Beyond may advance as the largest U.S. home- furnishing retailer said it cut costs by 2.4 percent. Jefferies Group Inc., the New York-based brokerage that specializes in mid-sized companies, may climb after forecasting record revenue for the second quarter. Nike, the world’s biggest athletic-shoe maker, fell 3.3 percent as it said orders declined 12 percent because of the global recession.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index expiring in September slipped 0.1 percent to 897.1 at 11:20 a.m. in London, after gaining as much as 1.2 percent earlier. The index has lost 4.8 percent since June 12 after a 40 percent rebound from its March lows left the measure trading at 14.9 times its companies’ earnings, near the highest since October. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 0.1 percent to 8,267 today, and Nasdaq-100 Index futures were little changed at 1,447.75.
“We increased our exposure to equities ever so slightly,” said Monika Rosen, head of research at Bank Austria Asset Management in Vienna, which oversees about $41 billion. “We are not entirely sure the market will get another setback and not get another reality check from fundamental data,” she told Bloomberg Television.
An index of home prices in 25 metropolitan areas climbed in April for the first time since peaking in June 2007, according to a report by Radar Logic Inc. The RPX Composite Index, which measures the price per square foot of residential properties in and around major cities, rose 1.2 percent from March, New York- based research firm Radar Logic said in a report released today.
Bond-Purchase Program
Most U.S. stocks advanced yesterday as durable goods orders unexpectedly jumped and earnings topped estimates at Oracle Corp. Equities pared gains and the Dow average fell as the Federal Reserve disappointed investors by not increasing its bond-purchase program.
Fed policy makers yesterday voted to maintain the size and pace of their $1.75 trillion program to buy mortgage debt and Treasuries. The central bank said it sees a “gradual resumption of sustainable” growth.
Bets against the S&P 500 rose for the first time since March as investors increased short sales of health-care stocks including Merck & Co. and Cardinal Health Inc. Short interest on the index climbed to 9.8 billion shares as of June 15, a gain of almost 1 percent from two weeks earlier, according to data compiled by U.S. exchanges and Bloomberg and released yesterday.
Bed Bath & Beyond
Bed Bath & Beyond jumped 5.9 percent to $30.06 in after- hours trading yesterday. Net income increased to 34 cents a share from 30 cents a year earlier. Analysts anticipated earnings of 25 cents a share, according to the average of 18 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Jefferies added 7.5 percent to $21.98 in after-hours trading yesterday after saying sales may exceed $500 million in the quarter ending June 30. Revenue is expected to be $325 million in the period, according to the average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.
Nike dropped 3.3 percent to $51.26 in Germany. Excluding the effect of currency exchange rates, worldwide orders for delivery from June through November fell 5 percent from a year earlier. Sara Hasan, an analyst with McAdams Wright Ragen Inc. in Seattle, projected orders would decline 2 percent at most, on that basis.
Warren Buffett followers who invest like the billionaire instead of with him would have earned higher returns since the bear market bottomed more than three months ago.
Economy Watch
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s 19 percent advance since U.S. equity indexes reached their lows on March 9 lags behind 15 of the company’s top 20 stock holdings. A $1 million investment mimicking Berkshire’s portfolio would have produced a $682,300 profit through yesterday, compared with a $185,900 gain for the same-sized investment in Berkshire shares. Buffett is chairman and head of investing at Berkshire.
A government report today may show first-time jobless claims fell last week, adding to evidence the recession is easing. Initial jobless claims probably dropped to 600,000 last week from 608,000 the previous week, according to a Bloomberg News survey of economists before the Labor Department report.
To contact the reporter on this story: Adam Haigh in London at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net.
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