U.S stock slipped for third consecutive day as investors awaited the release of economic reports to help ascertain when the Federal Reserve will reduce its economic stimulus program. Stock data as posted on Bloomberg shows that Western Digital Corp. slumped 4.9 percent after forecasting lower first quarter earnings than market analyst had estimated.

Facebook (FB) Inc. surged 26 percent after the world largest social networking site posted second quarter revenue and profit that surpassed analyst forecast, the highest since May 2012. General Motors Co. increased by 1.8 percent while futures lost 0.5 percent to 1,676.2 at around 7:38 am New York time. Dow Jones Industrial contracts also decreased by 0.4 percent (62 points) to 15,438 earlier today.

Martin Schlatter, a manager at Swiss Rock Asset Management that oversees over $1.1 billion explained that Investors are closely monitoring economic data with particular focus on labour market. The Labour Department report from Washington shows that unemployment claims increased from 336k last week to 343k, higher than the forecast 339k. A sign of slow economy recovery.

http://investorsking.com/facebook-fb-surged-26-percent-as-stock-index-futures-slipped-across-u-s/