Forexpros – U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open on Monday, as sustained concerns over the worsening of the euro zone’s financial crisis and the outlook for global economic growth weighed on investor confidence, while second quarter earnings season was about to begin.
Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.37% loss, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.38% decline, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.16% fall.
Market sentiment remained fragile as the yield on Spain’s 10-year government bonds climbed to 7.11% earlier, above the 6% threshold, widely seen as unsustainable, ahead of a meeting of euro zone finance ministers later in the day.
Euro zone officials were expected to discuss a plan announced last month and designed to help the region’s indebted countries and their struggling banking systems.
Investor confidence had weakened on Friday after official data showed that the U.S. economy added just 80,000 jobs in June, below market expectations for a gain of around 90,000. It was the third consecutive month where hiring failed to top the 100,000-level.
In addition, Chinese government data released earlier Monday showed that consumer price inflation accelerated at the slowest rate since January 2010 in June, sparking fresh concerns over a deeper-than-expected slowdown in China.
Alcoa was expected to be in focus as the aluminum producer was set to kick of the earnings season, by publishing second quarter results after the closing bell.
Meanwhile, aircraft companies were likely to be active, as Boeing was set to start Europe’s Farnborough air show, in the U.K., with orders from at least two leasing companies.
The deals were believed to help the U.S. plane maker consolidate its lead in orders over Airbus this year, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Tech stocks were also expected to be active, after Samsung Electronics won an intellectual property ruling against Apple, as a U.K. judge said the Galaxy tablet isn’t “cool” enough to be confused with the design for the iPad. Apple shares were up 0.02% in pre-market trade.
In biotechs, Celgene was said to be one of two companies discussing whether to bid for Human Genome Sciences, which is seeking an alternative to a hostile offer by British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline.
Other stocks in focus included PepsiCo, due to start selling yogurt this month, in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states, in a bid to curb its reliance on soda sales.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were lower. The EURO STOXX 50 dropped 0.41%, France’s CAC 40 added 0.18%, Germany’s DAX eased 0.01%, while Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.27%.
During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index plunged 1.7%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index tumbled 1.4%.
Later in the day, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi was to testify before the European Parliament, in Brussels.
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