U.S. stock index futures fell today as the continuing slide in Chinese stocks raised concerns about the pace of global economic growth, and as investors continue to keep a wary eye on developments in the Greek debt crisis, and the coming Federal Reserve minutes.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.6 percent to 17,569, while those for the S&P 500 index lost 0.6 percent to 2,061. Futures for the Nasdaq-100 index shaved off 0.6 percent to 4,396.
Beijing announced yet another battery of measures to arrest the sell-off and the securities regulator warned of "panic sentiment" gripping investors in the world's second-largest economy. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said today that growth is set to slow across an increasing number of the world’s largest economies, including the U.S. and China.
Euro zone members have given Greece until Sunday to come up with convincing reform proposals in return for loans that will keep the country from crashing out of the single currency. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told the European Parliament today that the government will present a detailed reform list in coming days. Meanwhile, Athens submitted a request for aid through the eurozone’s bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism.
U.S. stocks ended higher yesterday, marking a sharp turnaround from steep losses earlier in the session. The Dow ended up 0.5 percent to 17776.91, capping its biggest intraday swing since October 2011. The S&P 500 added 0.6 percent to 2081.34.
OTHER MARKETS:
European stocks rose. Germany’s DAX advanced 0.9 percent and France’s CAC-40 gained 1.2 percent.
In Asia, Chinese markets slumped even as officials scrambled to stem a three-week selloff in stocks. The Shanghai Composite fell 5.9 percent to 3,507.19 even as hundreds of Chinese stocks were frozen from trading.
FED:
Investors will scrutinize the minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's June 16-17 meeting to see if the storm clouds over Greece and China will have any effect on the timing and pace of an interest rate increase. The minutes are due at 2:00 p.m.
San Francisco Fed President John Williams is scheduled to speak on the economic outlook before the International Conference of Commercial Bank Economists later in the day.
MOVERS:
Alcoa (NYSE:AA) lost 1 percent in premarket trading. The largest aluminum producer unofficially kicks off the quarterly earnings season when it reports after markets close today.
Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) slipped 1.5 percent ahead of the bell as commodity prices extended a slump amid waning demand from China, the largest consumer of industrial metals.
Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC) might be active today. People with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg the company is nearing a deal to sell its Veritas data-storage business to Carlyle Group LP for as much as $8 billion.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) fell 0.5 percent after the New York Times reported the company plans to announce a new round of layoffs to cut costs further.
COMMODITIES:
Gold futures added 0.2 percent to $1154.90 an ounce.
Crude-oil futures inched up 0.1 percent to $52.31 a barrel.