NEW YORK, June 5 (Reuters) - U.S. stock futures pointed toa...

NEW YORK, June 5 (Reuters) - U.S. stock futures pointed to
a lower market open on Monday as fresh concerns about major oil
exporter Iran sent crude prices above $73 a barrel, prompting
worries about the impact of inflation on the economy.
Shares of Onyx Pharmaceuticals fell 8 percent before the
opening bell as investors concluded the company's cancer drug
faces tough competition from Pfizer Inc.. For details, see
ID:nN04393509.
Investors will listen closely for clues about the Federal
Reserve's intentions on interest rates when Chairman Ben
Bernanke speaks at a panel discussion with his European Union
counterpart, Jean-Claude Trichet, and Bank of Japan Deputy
Governor Toshiro Muto in Washington at 2:15 p.m. (1815 GMT) on
Monday.
"Certainly, the action in crude this morning is probably
the biggest negative," said Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist
at Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. in San Francisco. "I do believe that
what we're seeing is a consolidation phase after three weeks of
being hard hit in the market. It's going to take some time to
repair the technical damage that's been done."
U.S. crude oil was up $1.12, or 1.6 percent, to $73.45 per
barrel in electronic trading after hints from Iran, the world's
fourth biggest oil exporter, that it might use oil production
as a weapon in its nuclear dispute with the West.
Standard & Poor's 500 futures were down 2.2 points, below
fair value, a mathematical formula that evaluates pricing by
taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to
expiration on the contract.
Dow Jones industrial average futures were down 26 points,
and Nasdaq 100 futures were down 4.5 points.
Onyx shares were down $1.67 at $18.15 on the Inet
electronic brokerage network.
Boeing Co. may draw attention after the Wall Street
Journal said the Federal Aviation Administration is nearing
completion of flight range rules that are expected to benefit
the aircraft manufacturer. ID:nN05256924.
Shares of chip maker SanDisk rose 2.7 percent on Inet to
$56.64 after Bear Stearns raised its investment rating on the
company to "outperform," MarketWatch reported on its Web site.
ID:nWNA7228
Also on the economic front, the Institute for Supply
Management was set to release its May services sector index at
10 a.m. (1400 GMT).
The services sector, which makes up about 80 percent of
U.S. economic activity, likely slowed in May, according to a
Reuters poll. Economists forecast a median reading of 60, down
from 63 in April.