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By Bhaskar Prasad: Subscribe to Bhaskar's RSS feed | July 23, 2012 9:52 AM GMT
U.S. stock index futures point to a lower opening Monday as investor confidence became weak following concerns about the deepening debt crisis condition in the euro zone.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.70 percent, futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 index were down 0.60 percent, and futures on the Nasdaq 100 Index were down 0.66 percent.
Investor confidence will be affected by the euro zone debt worries that have resurfaced. The debt pressure on Spain continued to mount with the 10-year government bond yields soaring by around 25 basis points Friday to record highs of about 7.2 percent. The fact that Valencia has asked for government help, with more Spanish regions likely in the pipeline, has only acted to reinforce speculation of the Spain's need for a full-scale sovereign bailout.
Greece has also returned to the fore following the decision by the European Central Bank Friday to not allow debt securities backed or issued by the Greek government as collateral any longer pending the results of the Troika's review. The Troika, consisting of the European Commission, the ECB and the IMF, will meet in Athens Monday to discuss further on the bailout plan for Greece.
On Friday, the U.S. markets fell as investor sentiment turned negative with the increasing fears of the euro zone debt crisis. Though the euro zone finance ministers, who met Friday in Brussels, formally approved the bailout package of 100 billion euros ($122 billion) for the Spanish banks, there was no relief for the market players.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.93 percent, the S&P 500 Index declined 1.01 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 1.37 percent.
Major European indices fell as investor confidence was down following increasing debt pressure on Spain and worsening economic conditions in Greece. London's FTSE 100 was down 49.75 points, Germany's DAX 30 Index fell 68.21 points, and France's CAC 40 declined 54.20 points.
Asian stocks made losses as market sentiment turned negative amid weak global cues following worries about Spanish sovereign bailout.
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