Morning Wire — Futures Down Slightly

US stock futures appear to be looking for news, either good or bad, before setting a direction. Yesterday’s announcement by Fed chairman Ben Bernanke that nothing would change was expected, but some had been looking for a more aggressive approach to the slow-growing economy. Markets in Europe and Asia are mostly down this morning. The euro is also losing ground against the US dollar, Japanese yen, and British pound this morning.

At about 7:30 a.m. ET, Germany’s DAX is down -1.3% at 5,698.86 and France’s CAC 40 is down -1.8%, at 3,023.76.

In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is down -0.5%, at 18,354.40. The Nikkei index is down 0.4%, at 8,519.13, and the Shanghai index is down 0.9%, at 2,228.52. In London, the FTSE 100 is -1.03%, at 5,433.49.

Dow futures are down -0.32%, at 11,857.00. The Nasdaq 100 is down -0.51%, at 2,256.00 and the S&P is down -0.27%, at 1,216.90.

In the currency markets, the euro is down against the US dollar and the US dollar is up slightly against the British pound and up more strongly against the yen.

In commodities, both WTI and Brent crude are lower this morning, with WTI at $98.55/barrel and Brent at $107.94/barrel. Gold is down more than -2%, at $1,626.30.