US stock futures lower with Apple in focus; Dow sheds 0.3%

Forex Pros – U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open on Monday, as indications the U.S. economic recovery was slowing weighed on market sentiment, while shares in Apple were in focus ahead of the company&rsquo;s annual developers conference.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br /><br />Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to decline of 0.3%, the S&amp;P 500 futures dipped 0.15%, while Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a loss of 0.25%.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br /><br />On Friday, the U.S. Department of Labor said nonfarm payrolls rose significantly less-than-expected in May, increasing by just 54K as the private sector posted the smallest jobs gain in nearly a year. The slowdown in job creation pushed the unemployment rate up to a five-month high of 9.1% from 9.0% in April.<br /><br />With no economic data due Monday, Apple shares were expected to be in focus ahead of the company's annual software developers conference in San Francisco. <br /><br />Chief executive Steve Jobs, who has been on medical leave for the past six months, will deliver the keynote speech in which he is expected to unveil a new, cloud-based music and data service called iCloud. Apple shares added 0.4% in pre-market trade. <br /><br />Meanwhile, shares in airliners retreated after the International Air Transport Association slashed its 2011 industry profit forecast by 54%, due to higher oil prices, political protests in the Middle East and the Japan earthquake.<br /><br />Delta Airlines saw shares drop 1%, while US Airways Group declined 1.1%. <br /><br />On the upside, pharmaceutical firm Oxigene jumped 5.5% after it reported encouraging data in a trial of its lung cancer drug, Zybrestat on Saturday. The biotech&rsquo;s shares had rallied nearly 23% on Friday ahead of study presentations expected over the weekend.<br /><br />Shares in search engine giant Google could be active after the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Justice Department began an inquiry into whether its USD900 million purchase of Nortel Networks gives it an unfair competitive advantage in the wireless sector. <br /><br />Other stocks in focus included, Microsoft, Sony and video-game producer Electronic Arts, which are all slated to hold press conferences at the E3 Convention in Los Angeles later in the day.

Tohoku Earthquake effect on the stock market: 28.8% of the stocks ...

Based on a recent report in the Nikkei Shimbun it is not surprising that most electric power related company traded stocks have shown a downturn since the disasters had struck Japan. Furthermore that the stocks of TEPCO went downhill by almost 80% is not surprising, while other traditional energy or machinery/power tool related companies have made a strong comeback. On the other hand I do not understand the reason for a sudden rise of the stock prices of Gree (Japanese social networking site)? Although only 1% of the traded stocks stayed more or less in the same range, honestly I expected bigger shifts in the shown 1 1/2 month period after the event.

Top winners: 10. Sega

I guess the consequences of the widespread computer system failure in March by Mizuho is not over yet. Although according to the Wall Street Journal Mizuho Bank President Satoru Nishibori will step down to take responsibility for computer system problems, I cannot imagine it will enough for re-establishing trust. Millions of customers had been affected soon after the March 11 quake, when in such a time of uncertainty disruptions of ATM operations, salary payments and other transactions cannot be easily forgotten.

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