Early futures trading is signalling another down day for the stock market.
November 1, 2011- Wall Street looks to open with losses as futures are in the red. This will add to the losses that hit Wall Street Monday. Today’s futures have been pulled down by the unexpected announcement made by the Greek Premier of a referendum for its bailout. European Union leaders approved the bailout over the weekend.
At 7:50 am EDT, futures for the DOW were off by 1.44% and the NASDAQ was down nearly 1.8%. Premier George Papandreou announced on Tuesday that the bailout would be put to a referendum. This decision by the Premier only will intensify the already volatile situation the euro zone finds itself in.
Banks were hit hard by the announcement, as UniCredit in Italy was down nearly 7.5%. Credit Suisse dropped over 8% when the financial institute posted a quarterly loss and said it would be cutting another 1,500 jobs.
Most of the markets in Asia were also off. China announced its factory activity was at its slowest in October since February of 2009. That announcement helped to increase the worry investors have for the world’s second largest economy due to the ongoing sluggish global economy.
Results of some large company’s quarterly earnings will also influence Wall Street. Pfizer is expected to announce higher earnings helped by an increase in sales of its prescription medications. Even with the losses suffered on Monday, Wall Street ended with its best month in over 20 years.
