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Thursday July 24, 9:12 PM

Wall Street set for flat open, techs may gain


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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks headed for a flat open on Thursday as investors fretted about disappointing earnings from Dow Chemical and Ford Motor Co , but Nasdaq was set to open higher on strong profit at Amazon.com Inc.

Rising oil prices also added to doubts that stocks would sustain their recent bounce.

A report showing a larger-than-expected increase in the number of people filing for unemployment benefits in the latest week added to concerns about a slowing labor market.

Even so, technology shares could rise after a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit from Internet retailer Amazon.com Inc , whose stock shot up nearly 9 percent to $76.64 before the bell.

"Not everyone is going to jump in here. There's some apprehension as to the sustainability of the recent market bounce," said Andre Bakhos, president of Princeton Financial Group in Princeton, New Jersey. "On the surface, Ford is not a positive."

S&P 500 futures fell 1.3 points and were near break-even with fair value, a mathematical formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract.

Dow Jones industrial average futures dropped 18 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 10 points.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is set to release existing home sales for June at 10 a.m. Economists in a Reuters survey forecast sales at a 4.93 million annualized pace versus 4.99 million units in May.

Dow Chemical said its profit missed Wall Street expectations as it grappled with higher energy prices.

Automaker Ford Motor Co posted a wider-than-expected quarterly loss amid declining sales of large pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles in North America.

Ford shares slid 5.5 percent to $5.70 before the bell.

Oil prices rose 58 cents to $125 a barrel.

U.S. stocks have been in rebound mode since the broader market made a new 2008 low about a week ago, driven mainly by a drop in oil prices and earnings from banks, beginning with Wells Fargo and including JPMorgan , the third-largest U.S. bank.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry)

 


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