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A woman stands next to Spanish flags as she waits to enter a building in central Madrid on June 13, 2012.SUSANA VERA/Reuters

Stock market futures in North America showed small gains two hours ahead of the opening bell, but European and Asian exchanges posted losses as the financial situation worsened in Spain.

Investors appeared to be in a holding pattern as the debt and banking crisis in Europe came to a head. Sunday will present a key development in Greece's future status within the euro zone, as voters go to the polls a second time to try to elect a new government.

In a further sign that the financial crisis is spreading beyond Greece, Moody's cut its rating on Spanish debt by three notches.

The yield on Spain's 10-year debt rose 24 basis points to 6.99 per cent, the highest since the country joined the euro zone in 1999. In the cases of Ireland, Portugal and Greece, 7 per cent has proven the critical threshold beyond which each government found interest burdens too great and required a bailout.

Markets:

China's Hang Seng index down 1.5 per cent

Japan's Nikkei 225 index down 0.2 per cent

London's FTSE 100 down 0.6 per cent

France's CAC 40 down 0.2 per cent

Germany's DAX index down 0.4 per cent

Spain's IBEX 35 index up 0.5 per cent

Commodities:

Oil up 4 cents (U.S.) to $82.66 a barrel

Gold up $1.60 to $1,621.00 an ounce

Copper futures up 0.04 per cent to $3.341 a pound

Canadian dollar up 0.04 cents to 97.40 cents

Economic data:

(Eastern times)

8:30 a.m. The U.S. consumer price index is forecasted to have decreased by 0.2 per cent in May from the previous month. Excluding food and energy costs, the CPI is expected to have risen by 0.2 per cent.

8:30 a.m. Initial jobless claims in the U.S. for the week of June 14 are expected to hold steady at 375,000, compared with 377,000 reported a week earlier.

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