Wall Street is poised to open lower today as investors were cautious ahead of a two-day Federal Reserve meeting and as the Greek bailout crisis showed no signs of abating.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 53 points to 17,659, while those for the S&P 500 index gave up 7 points to 2,068.00. Futures for the Nasdaq-100 index shaved off 19 points to 4,409.
The Fed has said it remains data-dependent and will raise rates only when it sees an improvement in the economy. Second-quarter data points to a recovery after a halt in growth earlier in the year.
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told a German newspaper that he is not planning to present new reform proposals at a Eurogroup meeting on Thursday, despite warnings from the rest of Europe that time is running out.
There is an even chance of Greece defaulting on its debt payments, according to Reuters, although the probability of it leaving the euro zone is still only one-in-three.
Greece must repay €1.54 billion ($1.73 billion) to the International Monetary Fund on June 30. If there is no agreement by that date, Greece’s bailout will expire.
DATA:
Construction started on new U.S. homes fell 11.1 percent to an annual rate of 1.04 million in May, pulling back from a surge in April, which saw the fastest starts pace since late 2007, according to government data released today.
MOVERS:
Avalanche Biotechnologies (NASDAQ:AAVL) tumbled 46.2 percent in premarket trading, a day after the eye drug developer's experimental therapy showed that vision improvement was not significant. The result prompted brokerages to cut their ratings on the stock.
American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) slipped 0.4 percent after it said it would push back delivery of 35 Airbus Group A320neo family jetliners by several years.
Alibaba Group Holding’s (NYSE:BABA) U.S.-listed shares were down 0.3 percent in early trading after a report the Chinese e-commerce giant is in talks to jointly invest about $500 million in Snapdeal.com with iPhone assembler Foxconn Technology.
Gap (NYSE:GPS) was up 0.2 percent after the retailer late yesterday said it’ll shut 175 of its namesake stores in North America over the next few years, including about 140 this year.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (NYSE:FCAU) slid 1.1 percent in premarket New York trading as a report showed European car sales rose at the slowest pace in six months in May.
American International Group (NYSE:AIG) lost 0.7 percent after a court ruled that the government’s bailout of the insurer during the financial crisis was illegally onerous, while still refusing to award damages to Hank Greenberg’s Starr International Co., which took the case.
COMMODITIES:
Spot gold was down 0.2 percent at $1,183.32 an ounce, while U.S. gold futures for August delivery were down $2.40 an ounce at $1,183.40.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was up 34 cents at $59.86 a barrel, staying within a range of $57-$62 per barrel that has been in place since the beginning of May.
OTHER STOCKS:
European stocks were mostly lower, with the biggest declines in Greece. Greek stocks fell nearly 4 percent, while France’s CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX slipped about 0.3 percent.