Stock Futures Fall On Greek Deal Holdup

Published February 10, 2012 1:18PM (EST)

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock futures are following overseas markets lower Friday after Greece's crucial bailout was put on hold by the rest of the eurozone, a day after it seemed that the country had pacified its creditors.

Dow Jones industrial futures fell 88 points to 12,754 about 90 minutes ahead of the market opening. The broader S&P futures fell 12 points to 1,337. The Nasdaq composite futures were 21 points lower at 2,540.

On Thursday, Greek leaders agreed to private sector wage cuts, civil service layoffs and cuts in government spending.

But finance ministers from the other 16 eurozone states then insisted that Greece save an extra €325 million ($430 million), pass the cuts through parliament and guarantee that they will be enforced even after planned elections in April.

The renewed hurdles to resolution of the Greek crisis, which could send shockwaves around the global economy, dented sentiment in the markets Friday. Stocks were down through the Asian session into Europe's, with the benchmark index in Athens 1.6 percent lower by midday local time.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 0.8 percent at 5,851 while Germany's DAX fell 1.6 percent to 6,680. The CAC-40 in France was 1.3 percent lower at 3,380.

The euro was also subdued, trading 0.1 percent lower at $1.3262.

The prevailing view remains that a deal will be cobbled together but the uncertainty is weighing on stocks. Once all the demands have been fulfilled, the eurozone will give Greece the green light to start implementing a separate bond swap deal with banks and other private investors designed to slice some €100 billion ($132 billion) off Greece's debt.

Earlier in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.6 percent to close at 8,947.17. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.1 percent to 20,783.86 and South Korea's Kospi dropped 1 percent to 1,993.71.

However, mainland Chinese shares edged higher with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.1 percent to 2,351.98. The Shenzhen Composite Index also gained 0.5 percent to 903.64.

Oil prices tracked the bulk of equities around the world lower — benchmark oil was down $1.08 to $99.27 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.


By Salon Staff

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