Stocks to decline on Europe worries

@CNNMoneyInvest February 16, 2012: 8:52 AM ET
u.s. stock markets, premarkets

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks were poised to open lower Thursday, as nervous investors continue to question whether Greece will secure a second bailout.

Investor sentiment was further dampened after Moody's put 17 global banks and 114 European financial institutions on review for possible downgrades.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU), S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq (COMP) futures fell between 0.1% and 0.5% ahead of the opening bell. Stock futures indicate the possible direction of the markets when they open at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Among the global banks possibly affected by Moody's review -- nine are headquartered in Europe, the agency said. Moody's added that Swiss banks Credit Suisse (CS) and UBS (UBS), as well as New York-based Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500), could see their long-term ratings slashed by up to 3 notches.

U.S.-based Citigroup (C, Fortune 500), Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500), JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), and Bank of America (JPM, Fortune 500) were also put on watch.

Moody's: 5 big U.S. banks face downgrade

Meanwhile, uncertainty remains over Greece and its efforts to secure much-needed additional bailout funds. European finance ministers delayed a decision on the bailout Wednesday, as they continue to evaluate a proposed austerity program from Athens.

The Eurogroup meets again on Monday and indicated it would likely give its approval for the latest economic reform proposal, which Greece needs in order to secure bailout funds and avoid defaulting on a €14.5 billion bond redemption in March.

U.S. stocks closed lower Wednesday, as the euro hit a 1-week low on uncertainty over Greece's debt crisis.

World markets: European stocks were in the red in morning trading. Britain's FTSE 100 (UKX) fell 0.7%, the DAX (DAX) in Germany dropped 1% and France's CAC 40 (CAC40) shed 0.4%.

Asian markets ended lower. The Shanghai Composite (SHCOMP) and the Hang Seng (HSI) in Hong Kong slipped 0.4%, while Japan's Nikkei (N225) edged lower 0.2%.

Economy: Initial unemployment claims for the week ended February 11 fell to 348,000 -- down 13,000 from the week prior, the Labor Department said.

Economists were expecting 365,000 claims, according to consensus estimates from Briefing.com.

Is Japan the next Greece?

Housing starts for January rose 1.5% to 699,000, according to the Commerce Department. Building permits rose 0.7% to 676,000 in January. Both totals were higher than expected.

The Producer Price Index for January rose 0.1%, following a decline of 0.3% the month prior. The index was expected to have increased by 0.3% last month.

Companies: General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) posted a record $7.6 billion net profit for 2011, making it the first year since 2004 that all Big Three automakers -- GM, Ford (F, Fortune 500) and Chrysler (DAI) -- are profitable.

DirectTV (DTV, Fortune 500) beat earnings and sales estimates during the fourth quarter, with particular strength coming from the company's presence in Latin America. DirecTV also announced a $6 billion stock buyback program.

Nvidia's (NVDA) stock tumbled a day after the company first-quarter revenue forecast fell short of Wall Street's estimate.

Wanted: Americans for factory jobs

Shares of J.M. Smucker (SJM, Fortune 500) slid after the maker of JIF peanut butter and Folgers coffee posted a 11% drop in its fiscal third-quarter profit that also fell below expectations.

Shares of Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) were down after Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) asked the e-commerce giant to halt sale of the iPad in China. The move came after Apple lost a trademark dispute over the "iPad" name against in Chinese courts against Proview Technolgoy.

Currencies and commodities: The dollar was higher against the euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen.

Oil for March delivery slipped 47 cents to $101.33 a barrel.

Gold futures for April delivery fell $8.40 to $1,719.70 an ounce.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury rose, pushing the yield down to 1.92% from 1.93% late Wednesday.  To top of page

Index Last Change % Change
Dow 32,627.97 -234.33 -0.71%
Nasdaq 13,215.24 99.07 0.76%
S&P 500 3,913.10 -2.36 -0.06%
Treasuries 1.73 0.00 0.12%
Data as of 6:29am ET
Company Price Change % Change
Ford Motor Co 8.29 0.05 0.61%
Advanced Micro Devic... 54.59 0.70 1.30%
Cisco Systems Inc 47.49 -2.44 -4.89%
General Electric Co 13.00 -0.16 -1.22%
Kraft Heinz Co 27.84 -2.20 -7.32%
Data as of 2:44pm ET
Overnight Avg Rate Latest Change Last Week
30 yr fixed3.80%3.88%
15 yr fixed3.20%3.23%
5/1 ARM3.84%3.88%
30 yr refi3.82%3.93%
15 yr refi3.20%3.23%
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