Forexpros – U.S. stock futures were lower on Tuesday, as investors remained cautious ahead of a highly anticipated European summit on Wednesday as fears over a potential Greek exit from the euro zone continued to linger.
Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a fall of 0.14%, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.17% loss, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated 0.15% decline.
Investors remained wary ahead of Wednesday’s EU summit meeting amid concerns over a divide between France’s new President Francois Hollande, who favors measures designed to support growth and pro-austerity Germany.
Sentiment was also hit after the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development cut its growth forecasts for the euro zone for 2012 and 2013 and warned that a “combination of enduring financial fragility, rising unemployment and social pain may spark political contagion and adverse market reaction.”
Following two disappointing sessions since its USD16 billion IPO last Friday, Facebook was expected to remain in focus on Tuesday, after Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter on the deal, unexpectedly delivered some negative news to major clients: The bank’s consumer Internet analyst, Scott Devitt, was reducing his revenue forecasts for the company.
Also in the Internet sector, Yahoo shares edged down 0.06% in after hour trade after Chinese Internet entrepreneur Jack Ma said on Monday he’s buying back up to half of a 40% stake in his Alibaba Group from Yahoo for USD7.1 billion.
Financial stocks were also likely to be active after a survey showed that Asian prime brokerage units of Credit Suisse and Bank of America gained market share in the last year, while Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley lost hedge fund clients and assets, according to a Reuters report.
Construction-linked stocks were expected to move after Chinese state-run newspaper China Securities Journal said earlier that the nation plans to speed up the approval of infrastructure construction projects to boost economic growth.
In company news, Germany-based Bayer and U.S. Onyx Pharmaceuticals failed to show in a late-stage clinical study that their blockbuster drug Nexavar can prolong the lives of patients with lung tumors, the largest target group in the cancer market.
Elsewhere in the pharmaceutical sector, Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. jumped 3.54% in late trading after S&P said the company will replace Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. in the benchmark S&P 500.
Other stocks in focus included Best Buy and AutoZone, due to report earnings before the open.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were higher. The EURO STOXX 50 climbed 0.71%, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.62%, Germany’s DAX advanced 0.60%, while Britain’s FTSE 100 jumped 0.80%.
During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rallied 1.25%, while markets in Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index climbed 1.1%.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release industry data on existing home sales.
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