Global stocks were struggling on Wednesday, with little euphoria over Greece's bailout, another troubling sign in Europe's economy and disappointing earnings from Dell Inc.
U.S. index futures were down slightly with about two hours before markets open, suggesting that stocks will open relatively flat at the start of trading. Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average were down 5 points or 0 per cent. Futures for the broader S&P 500 were down 3 points or 0.2 per cent. Both indexes closed relatively flat on Tuesday as well, with the Dow retreating from 13,000 soon after hitting the milestone.
In Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 0.5 per cent and Germany's DAX index was down 1 per cent in afternoon trading. European stocks fell on Tuesday as well, despite finance ministers there reaching an agreement to bail out Greece, averting a messy default. Some observers believe that the agreement merely postpones another round of problems, and Fitch Ratings agrees: It downgraded Greek government debt to triple-C, putting it deeper into junk status and adding that "default is highly likely in the near term."
As well, there are more signs that the European economy is heading for recession. The preliminary composite purchasing managers index for the euro zone contracted in February.
Meanwhile, the latest round of big-name earnings didn't lift the mood, arriving during what has been a disappointing earnings season. Dell Inc. slipped 6.9 per cent in premarket activity after the computer company reported fourth-quarter earnings of 51 cents a share, missing expectations for 52 cents.
NOTE: An earlier version of this article attributed the Greek downgrade to Moody's Investors Service. It was, in fact, Fitch Ratings.
