The two weakest Dow stocks were Merck, down 2.2 per cent, and Pfizer, down 1.3 per cent.
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At 6.45am (AEST), the September share price index futures contract was up 26 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 5,086. Wall Street looked set for mild gains after a sell-off Friday.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 100 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 16,485 as of 9:38 a.m. Eastern time Monday.
The S&P 500 had fallen 1.6 percent Friday after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates at zero due to worries about global growth. The Fed cited low inflation, weakness in the global economy and unsettled financial markets. Although rock-bottom rates have helped fuel years of rising stocks since the financial crisis, the Fed’s reluctance to lift borrowing costs was seen as a reminder that growth in the US and elsewhere remains vulnerable to a slowdown in China. Citigroup rose 36 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $50.65.
Shares of GoPro were down 8.2 per cent at $32.27 after Barron’s said the video camera maker’s shares could plunge to $25 as its latest product launch underwhelmed customers amid increasing competition. Benchmarks in Indonesia and the Philippines also retreated.
Before the mid-session decline, all three major indexes had risen 1 percent, with technology and financial stocks leading the gainers. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday and will reopen Thursday.
The markets appeared to shrug off the data and traders sought to buy on Friday’s dip.
“Sales activity was down in many parts of the country last month – especially in the South and West – as the persistent summer theme of tight inventory levels likely deterred some buyers”, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, said in a statement. West Texas Intermediate crude, the benchmark for USA oil prices, gained 2.66 percent to $45.87 per barrel for October delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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Though the Fed stood pat last week, Goldman Sachs expects the euro to still fall below parity against the dollar.
