US stocks set to open sharply lower
NEW YORK: US stocks index futures pointed Tuesday to a sharply lower opening, mirroring steep losses in European markets after Greece unexpectedly called a referendum on its EU bailout program.
Stocks index futures, an indicator of how the indexes will perform after the markets open, were down across the board.
About an hour before the opening bell, stock futures on the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average index were down 1.8 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite futures dropped 2.2 percent.
Futures on the S&P 500-stock index, a broader measure of the markets, were off 2.7 percent.
Stock futures extended Monday's losses amid rising skepticism about the European Union's eurozone debt crisis plan and a new bailout package for debt-riddled Greece.
Market jitters were further heightened after embattled Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou called for a confidence vote and a referendum on last week's EU debt deal, taking a political gamble to silence growing opposition to his policies.
The Dow lost 2.26 percent, the Nasdaq 1.93 percent and the S&P 500 2.47 percent.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011
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