Wall St set to open little changed after bruising week

By Tanya Agrawal

REUTERS - Wall Street looked set to open little changed on Monday, following a bruising week, as oil prices rose to their highest in more than six months.

Oil jumped over 2 percent to its highest since November 2015 on growing Nigerian output disruptions and after Goldman Sachs said the market had ended almost two years of oversupply and flipped to a deficit. [O/R]

U.S. stocks fell on Friday as gloomy quarterly reports from retailers overshadowed upbeat April retail sales data, leaving the Dow and the S&P 500 lower for the third straight week.

"The market has been shaken by the depth and breadth of the negativity coming out of the retailing stocks," said Andre Bakhos, managing director at Janlyn Capital LLC in Bernardsville, New Jersey.

"The market is going to have to make an evaluation if this is going to be a one-time blip or is this something that continues to bear down."

S&P 500 e-minis were up 0.5 points, or 0.02 percent, with 154,927 contracts traded at 8:34 a.m. ET (1234 GMT). Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 7 points, or 0.16 percent, on volume of 25,082 contracts. Dow e-minis were down 4 points, or 0.02 percent, with 24,924 contracts changing hands.

Data from China over the weekend also raised doubts about whether the world's second-largest economy was stabilizing. Retail sales, factory output and fixed-asset investment all grew more slowly than expected in April.

Investors will also be keeping a watch on data scheduled to be released today. U.S. homebuilder sentiment likely rose a bit in May. NAHB Housing Market index is expected to have increased to 59 from 58 in April. The data is expected at 10 a.m. ET.

Manufacturing activity in New York State fell to its lowest level since February. The New York Fed's Empire State general business conditions index tumbled to -9.02 in May from 9.56 in April, and well below the estimated 6.50.

Investors have been keeping a sharp eye on data for clues regarding the path of interest rate increases. Some Federal Reserve officials have hinted at two rate hikes this year, but traders are pricing in only one.

While the S&P 500 has risen about 15 percent since February lows, that rally fizzled out in the last few weeks due to disappointing corporate earnings and mixed economic data.

For every company that has given an upbeat forecast for the current quarter, more than two have warned of disappointing earnings, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Apple shares were up 1.6 percent at $91.87 in premarket trading after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway reported a stake in the firm.

Tribune Publishing was up 22.9 percent at $14.10 after Gannett raised its buyout offer to $15 per share. Gannett was little changed at $15.63.

Anacor Pharmaceuticals jumped 53.9 percent to $98.60 after Pfizer said it would buy the drugmaker in a deal valued at $5.2 billion. Pfizer was up 0.6 percent at $33.38.

(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal and Yashaswini Swamynathan; Editing by Anil D'Silva)