Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Markets Down on Greece Fears

Markets Down on Greece FearsNokomis, WI 10/4/2011 (PennyPayDay) – Stock index futures fell on Tuesday, a day after equities hit 13-month lows, on increased worries about a major banking crisis in Europe and expectations Greece would default soon.

* Wall Street has fallen for the past two sessions and the broad S&P 500 index was on the verge of entering bear market territory.

* The STOXX Europe 600 Banking Index (^SX7P - News) sank 4 percent on Tuesday while Franco-Belgian bank Dexia (Brussels:DEXI.BR - News) plummeted 17 percent to a record low because of its Greek exposure. European shares tumbled 2.6 percent. (^EU - News)

* U.S. banks were likely to remain in focus and continue to be pressured by the same issue. On Monday, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - News) closed at its lowest since December 2008.

* European finance ministers were considering making banks take bigger losses on Greek debt and delayed a vital aid payment to Athens until mid-November, setting up a crunch point in the region's sovereign debt crisis.

* S&P 500 futures fell 6.4 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures sank 81 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 11.5 points.

* The benchmark S&P is down 19.4 percent and near bear market territory, which would be a 20 percent decline from its recent high set on April 29.

* Later Tuesday, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will testify before the Joint Economic Committee in Washington on the economic outlook.

* Data on durable goods and factory orders, both for August, will also be released at 10 a.m. EDT.

* Fast food chain operator Yum! Brands Inc (NYSE:YUM - News) is on tap to report quarterly results.

* Apple Inc (NasdaqGS:AAPL - News) is expected to unveil a new version of its popular iPhone, hoping to fend off hard-charging rivals running Google Inc's (NasdaqGS:GOOG - News) Android system.

* The Dow and S&P dropped more than 2 percent on Monday, slumping to 13-month lows in heavy volume on fears Greece's debt woes could spark a full-blown banking crisis in Europe. The Nasdaq fell more than 3 percent.

PennyPayDay Disclaimer

Distributed by Viestly

No comments:

Post a Comment