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* Aug. new home sales data due at 10:00 a.m. ET
* Nike set for record high after Q1 results beat
* Futures off: Dow 0.07%, S&P 0.07%, Nasdaq 0.13%
(Adds analyst comment, details, updates numbers)
By Sruthi Shankar and Ambar Warrick
Sept 25 (Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes were set to open flat on Wednesday as a move to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump unnerved investors, but a jump in shares of Nike and tobacco companies helped dispel some gloom.
The news on probe, which pushed the S&P 500 .SPX to post its biggest percentage drop in a month on Tuesday, worsened an already fragile sentiment after Trump took a harsh tone about China's trade practices, saying he would not accept a "bad deal". the end, we closed off the day's lows, which tells me that there isn't any panic in the market that would cause an accelerated decline," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
"Of course, the headline news regarding impeachment investigation will be focused on, but I don't think that it's going to have a real negative effect just yet."
Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) NKE.N shares jumped 4.7% premarket, on course for a record open and set to boost the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI , after first-quarter results beat market expectations. Retailer Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) Inc FL.N gained 1%. in Philip Morris (NYSE:PM) PM.N surged 6.9% after the tobacco company called off merger talks with Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Inc MO.N and said it would instead focus on the U.S. launch of its tobacco-heating product, iQOS. Altria gained 2.1% on the news. 8:46 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were down 18 points, or 0.07%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were down 2 points, or 0.07% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were down 9.75 points, or 0.13%.
Chipmaker Broadcom Inc AVGO.O dropped 4% after it priced an upsized offering of convertible preferred stock. and gas explorers Marathon Oil Corp (NYSE:MRO) MRO.N and Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Co HAL.N fell about 1%, tracking declines in oil prices on worries of weakening global demand.
Investors will now look to August new home sales data, due at 10:00 a.m. ET (1400 GMT), to gauge domestic spending strength ahead of the key holiday shopping season.