U.S. Stock-Index Futures Fluctuate; Lazard Drops as EBay Rises

By Adam Haigh

Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures drifted between gains and losses after a six-month rally in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index left the measure valued near the most expensive level in five years.

Lazard Ltd. dropped 3.3 percent after the investment bank led by Bruce Wasserstein said some shareholders agreed to sell 5.22 million shares in an underwritten public offering. EBay Inc. advanced 1 percent as Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. recommended buying the stock.

Futures on the S&P 500 expiring this month fell 0.1 percent to 1,024.20 as of 7:01 a.m. in New York. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost 0.1 percent to 9,486. Nasdaq-100 Index futures declined 0.2 percent to 1,652.

The S&P 500 has rebounded 52 percent from a 12-year low on March 9 as reports from consumer confidence to home sales signaled the recession is easing and companies from Johnson & Johnson to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. posted earnings that beat analysts’ estimates. The Federal Reserve will publish its Beige Book business survey today at 2 p.m. in Washington.

The rally has pushed valuations in the benchmark index for U.S. equities to about 18.9 times the reported earnings of its companies, near the highest level since June 2004, according to weekly data compiled by Bloomberg.

“Investors should be prepared for some additional near- term corrective action,” Robert Doll, the global chief investment officer at BlackRock Inc., wrote in an e-mail to journalists yesterday. “Stocks are no longer as cheap as they were several months ago. Conditions may be overbought and there is still a great deal of uncertainty over the outlook.”

Lazard, EBay

Lazard declined 3.3 percent to $37.73 in early New York trading. The company said it won’t receive any proceeds from the share sale.

EBay, owner of the most visited U.S. e-commerce Web site, climbed 1 percent to $22.05 after Bernstein raised its recommendation to “outperform” from “market perform” and lifted its share-price estimate 17 percent to $28.

Vivus Inc. soared 40 percent to $9.70. The developer of treatments for sexual dysfunction and obesity said its Qnexa drug helped patients lose enough weight in studies to allow the biotechnology company to seek U.S. approval to sell the treatment this year.

AeroVironment Inc. fell 1.5 percent to $29.96 in Germany. The maker of U.S. military spyplanes reported a loss of 17 cents a share in the fiscal first quarter. Analysts had expected the company to earn 12 cents, according to the average estimate in a Bloomberg survey.

Kraft Foods

Kraft Foods Inc., the world’s second-largest foodmaker, is in talks to arrange about $8 billion of financing for its bid to buy candy maker Cadbury Plc, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Separately, the company said it was targeting operating- income margins in the mid-teens on a percentage basis by 2011, up from 12.3 percent in 2008. The information was sent today in a regulatory filing. The shares added 0.5 percent to $26.59 in early New York trading.

To contact the reporter on this story: Adam Haigh in London at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net.