Stock futures slide on earnings, overseas troubles
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock futures pointed to a sharply lower open as investors fretted over disappointing earnings from companies like Amazon.com and more trouble in overseas markets.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average futures slid 159 points to 15,572 about 45 minutes before the opening bell Friday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index futures lost 17 points to 1,764 and Nasdaq futures lost 15 points to 3,487.
GLOOMY JANUARY: It's the last trading day in January and it's been a tough month for investors. The Dow is down more than 4 percent, while the S&P 500 has fallen 3 percent. Those declines do not include any losses once trading starts at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time.
EUROPE SLUGGISH: An unexpected fall in eurozone inflation showed the recovery is still weak there. Official figures Friday showed the inflation rate in the 18-country eurozone dropped to 0.7 percent in December from 0.9 percent the previous month. That decline has reinforced fears that the eurozone is about to suffer a Japanese-style bout of deflation, which can be very difficult to get out of.
MORE TROUBLE FOR EMERGING MARKETS: The currencies for several countries fell against the dollar, as the turmoil in emerging markets flared up once again. The Turkish lira was down 0.5 percent against the dollar and the South African rand lost 1 percent against the dollar. The euro lost 0.4 percent against the dollar — a big move in the world of foreign exchange.
AMAZON SINKS: Amazon.com was down 8 percent in pre-market trading. The online shopping giant said its profit and revenue grew in the latest quarter but the results fell below what Wall Street was expecting.
