What you need to know before the US open
US stocks futures headed lower today, suggesting a less-than-impressive end to the week.
Global shares have eased back for the third day in a row, and the dollar’s seen further losses against the yen.
Better news on the data front, though – a shock jump in housing starts. In April, the speed of construction of new homes rose 13.2 per cent to an annualised rate of 1.07m, from 1m in March.
Analysts were expecting a more modest improvement of 3.6 per cent, to 980,000.
Corporate news
Red Lobster, the US seafood restaurant chain, has been sold to private equity firm Golden Gate Capital for $2.1bn.
And Abbott, the pharmaceutical firm, has agreed to pay $3.3bn for CFR Pharmaceuticals, which is based in Chile.
Data in focus
• 2.55pm: US May Reuters/Michigan consumer sentiment index