Indications: U.S. stock futures step back; euro slide continues

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By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures stepped back Thursday, as nervousness over national debt burdens continued amid market gyrations.

S&P 500 futures fell marginally to 1,169.10 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 3.5 points to 1,969.20. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2 points.

Upbeat outlooks from IBM and Fluor and a leaked report about SAP's impending acquisition of Sybase helped lift U.S. stocks on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 rising 1.4% and other major indexes also gaining ground.

TODAY'S INTERNATIONAL MARKET STORIES

Global Dow

• MarketWatch Topics: Greece • Asia Markets | Europe Markets | LatAm Markets • Canadian Markets | Israel Stocks | London • U.S.: Market Snapshot | After Hours

Tools• Latin American/Canadian indexes • European indexes | Asian indexes

More on the Markets • Bond Report | Oil News | Earnings Watch • Currencies | U.S. Economic Calendar

Highlights • Sony's quarterly loss narrows to $608 million • Telefonica income rises less-than-forecast 2% • 3i shares get boost as asset valuations improve • BT swings to stronger-than-forecast profit • Tullett Prebon shares slump after bid talks end

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The euro /quotes/comstock/21o!x:seurusd (CUR_EURUSD 1.2559, -0.0069, -0.5464%) on Thursday continued its downturn from the $1.31 level reached in the aftermath of the European Union-International Monetary Fund 750 billion euro aid package, retreating below $1.26.

"Global risk is likely to decouple further from the euro and fundamental variations are likely to move increasingly to the fore as currency drivers again," said Michael Hart, a strategist at Citi.

A $980 million payment that Dubai property developer Nakheel must make today is also bringing the sovereign debt crisis back into the spotlight.

The British pound /quotes/comstock/21o!x:sgbpusd (CUR_GBPUSD 1.4702, -0.0126, -0.8497%) also moved lower after the U.K. reported a widening trade gap.

Oil futures dropped below the $75 a barrel level, and even high-flying gold struggled, with futures on the yellow metal falling $8.10 to $1,235 an ounce.

On the economics front, weekly jobless claims are due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern and the Treasury is selling $16 billion of 30-year bonds. A number of speeches from Federal Reserve officials also are expected.

Of companies in the spotlight, Sybase /quotes/comstock/13*!sy/quotes/nls/sy (SY 56.14, +14.57, +35.05%) rose nearly 15% in premarket trade following news that SAP /quotes/comstock/13*!sap/quotes/nls/sap (SAP 44.90, -0.47, -1.04%) will buy the company for $5.8 billion, or $65 a share.

Deutsche Bank /quotes/comstock/13*!db/quotes/nls/db (DB 65.03, +0.78, +1.21%) , Citi /quotes/comstock/13*!c/quotes/nls/c (C 4.18, +0.01, +0.24%) , UBS /quotes/comstock/13*!ubs/quotes/nls/ubs (UBS 14.98, +0.22, +1.49%) and J.P. Morgan Chase /quotes/comstock/13*!jpm/quotes/nls/jpm (JPM 41.69, +0.14, +0.34%) also have been caught up in the criminal probe into mortgage bond deal disclosure to investors, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Separately, The New York Times reported that Goldman Sachs /quotes/comstock/13*!gs/quotes/nls/gs (GS 147.20, +5.23, +3.68%) , Morgan Stanley /quotes/comstock/13*!ms/quotes/nls/ms (MS 27.80, -0.58, -2.04%) , UBS, Citi, Credit Suisse /quotes/comstock/13*!cs/quotes/nls/cs (CS 44.10, +1.25, +2.92%) , Deutsche Bank /quotes/comstock/13*!db/quotes/nls/db (DB 65.03, +0.78, +1.21%) , Credit Agricole and the Merrill Lynch unit of Bank of America /quotes/comstock/13*!bac/quotes/nls/bac (BAC 17.07, -0.09, -0.52%) are being probed by the New York attorney general over disclosure to rating agencies.

Cisco /quotes/comstock/15*!csco/quotes/nls/csco (CSCO 26.74, +0.78, +3.00%) slipped 1.9% after the networking giant reported a 63% profit jump but also projected sales fiscal fourth-quarter sales growth in line with analyst estimates.

Sony /quotes/comstock/13*!sne/quotes/nls/sne (SNE 33.24, -0.33, -0.98%) reported a narrowing of its fiscal fourth-quarter loss and said it expects an annual profit.

BT Group /quotes/comstock/13*!bt/quotes/nls/bt (BT 17.93, +0.04, +0.22%) returned to a stronger-than-forecast fiscal fourth-quarter profit as the U.K. company avoided a repeat of last year's hefty charge from its global services arm.

Asian stocks rallied, with the Nikkei 225 climbing 2.2% and the Shanghai Composite rising 2%.

Europe stocks wavered by mid-morning trade, with the Stoxx Europe 600 index up 0.3%.

Steve Goldstein is MarketWatch's London bureau chief.

NYSE Arca Morning Update - 08:30:00 ET

NYSE Arca Morning Update for Thursday, May 13, 2010 :

STOCKS TRADING ON NYSE Arca AT A PRICE 15% OR MORE AWAY FROM
THE PREVIOUS TRADE DAY'S CONSOLIDATED CLOSE PRICE (AS OF 08:30:00 ET)

Stock Wednesday's Close Current Price Pct Change Current NYSE ARCA Vol
ALLT $4.97 $3.19 (35.8%) 3,500
AUTH $2.36 $2.96 25.5% 31,200
CRIC $8.42 $10.00 18.8% 1,121

10 MOST ACTIVE STOCKS ON NYSE ARCA AS OF 08:30:00 ET

BASED ON DOLLARS TRADED: | BASED ON SHARES TRADED:
Stock $ Volume Price PctChg | Stock Share Vol Price PctChg
SPY $80,346,163 $117.70 0.2% | C 3,966,496 $4.16 ( 0.5%)
SY $48,930,822 $64.50 14.2% | SY 757,398 $64.50 14.2%
GLD $40,082,769 $121.11 ( 0.2%) | SPY 683,353 $117.70 0.2%
BIDU $22,475,084 $81.10 3.7% | CSCO 540,418 $26.00 ( 2.8%)
AAPL $17,812,908 $264.17 0.8% | GLD 331,623 $121.11 ( 0.2%)
C $16,515,418 $4.16 ( 0.5%) | BIDU 278,794 $81.10 3.7%
CSCO $14,134,585 $26.00 ( 2.8%) | F 261,918 $12.97 2.3%
QQQQ $9,642,480 $48.61 0.0% | S 234,174 $4.23 1.9%
X $5,206,262 $56.50 2.6% | QQQQ 198,371 $48.61 0.0%
SSO $4,992,861 $42.19 0.5% | BAC 155,054 $17.10 0.2%

Price changes may be affected by symbol splits and dividends.

Consolidated close price is the last print (excluding prints with trade
conditions) prior to 4PM ET.

This information is also updated on our web page every morning at 8:35ET:
http://www.tradearca.com/data/volume/daily_update.asp

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