Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a steady open on Monday, as investors remained cautious amid fresh global growth concerns following the release of disappointing economic data from Japan.
Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.01% rise, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.03% gain, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.06% increase.
Sentiment weakened after official data showed earlier that Japan’s economy grew 0.3% in the three months to June, just half as much as expectations for a 0.6% expansion, from an upwardly revised 1.2% in the first quarter as export demand was hit by the euro zone debt crisis.
The data came hard on the heels of a report on Friday showing that Chinese exports dropped sharply in July, while imports also slowed.
Sentiment remained mildly supported however by hopes the European Central Bank will soon take action to ease the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis.
Tech stocks were expected to be active, amid reports Google is planning on cutting about 4,000 jobs at its Motorola Mobility Holdings unit, or 20% of the staff at the company it bought for about USD12.5 billion. Shares surged 1.55% in pre-market trade.
Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble cut prices on three models of its Nook e-reader and tablet devices on Sunday, ahead of the peak of the back to school season and amid speculation that rival Amazon.com is preparing to launch a new version of its Kindle Fire tablet. Shares in Amazon were down 0.64% pre-market.
Social media giant Facebook was also likely to be in focus, as over 1.6 billion shares were about to become eligible to come on the market in several waves, starting Thursday, when a number of shareholders will be allowed to sell.
In the financial sector, Citigroup dropped 0.73% in early trading after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. sued the lender over securities sold to Colonial Bank.
According to a Bloomberg report, the FDIC said that banks including Citigroup misrepresented the quality of loans underlying USD388 million of securities that Colonial bought.
Separately, Swiss private bank Julius Baer was reportedly set to buy Bank of America's Merrill Lynch private bank outside the U.S., paying CHF860 million to boost its assets under management by 40% and backing the deal with plans to raise CHF1.19 billion in new capital.
Other stocks likely to be in focus included Sysco, Groupon and mining company Iamgold.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were mixed. The EURO STOXX 50 climbed 0.49%, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.40%, Germany's DAX added 0.27%, while Britain's FTSE 100 eased 0.07%.
During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.27%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index inched down 0.07%.
Neither the euro zone or the U.S. were scheduled to release any significant economic data on Monday, so investors were looking ahead to U.S. data on retail sales and inflation later in the week.
Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.01% rise, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.03% gain, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.06% increase.
Sentiment weakened after official data showed earlier that Japan’s economy grew 0.3% in the three months to June, just half as much as expectations for a 0.6% expansion, from an upwardly revised 1.2% in the first quarter as export demand was hit by the euro zone debt crisis.
The data came hard on the heels of a report on Friday showing that Chinese exports dropped sharply in July, while imports also slowed.
Sentiment remained mildly supported however by hopes the European Central Bank will soon take action to ease the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis.
Tech stocks were expected to be active, amid reports Google is planning on cutting about 4,000 jobs at its Motorola Mobility Holdings unit, or 20% of the staff at the company it bought for about USD12.5 billion. Shares surged 1.55% in pre-market trade.
Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble cut prices on three models of its Nook e-reader and tablet devices on Sunday, ahead of the peak of the back to school season and amid speculation that rival Amazon.com is preparing to launch a new version of its Kindle Fire tablet. Shares in Amazon were down 0.64% pre-market.
Social media giant Facebook was also likely to be in focus, as over 1.6 billion shares were about to become eligible to come on the market in several waves, starting Thursday, when a number of shareholders will be allowed to sell.
In the financial sector, Citigroup dropped 0.73% in early trading after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. sued the lender over securities sold to Colonial Bank.
According to a Bloomberg report, the FDIC said that banks including Citigroup misrepresented the quality of loans underlying USD388 million of securities that Colonial bought.
Separately, Swiss private bank Julius Baer was reportedly set to buy Bank of America's Merrill Lynch private bank outside the U.S., paying CHF860 million to boost its assets under management by 40% and backing the deal with plans to raise CHF1.19 billion in new capital.
Other stocks likely to be in focus included Sysco, Groupon and mining company Iamgold.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were mixed. The EURO STOXX 50 climbed 0.49%, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.40%, Germany's DAX added 0.27%, while Britain's FTSE 100 eased 0.07%.
During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.27%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index inched down 0.07%.
Neither the euro zone or the U.S. were scheduled to release any significant economic data on Monday, so investors were looking ahead to U.S. data on retail sales and inflation later in the week.