Morning Wire -- US Stock-Index Futures Sinking

US index futures are sinking this morning as markets react to yesterday’s news that the eurozone economy is contracting and that global growth is slowing down. US factory orders reported a decline yesterday and China cut its GDP growth forecast to the lowest in eight years. And for some reason traders seem concerned about the Greek debt swap deal scheduled for later this week. Probably wondering if it will really happen. Global markets are all down today.

At about 8:15 a.m. ET, Germany’s DAX is down -1.38% at 6,771.57 and France’s CAC 40 is down -1.49%, at 3,435.62. In London, the FTSE 100 is down -0.93%, at 5,820.26.

In Asia, the Hang Seng index closed down -2.16%, at 20,806.20 and the Nikkei index closed down -0.63%, at 9,637.63. The Shanghai exchange closed down -1.41%, at 2,410.45.

Dow futures are down -0.66%, at 12,875.00. The Nasdaq is down -0.75%, at 2,596.50 and the S&P is down -0.78%, at 1,353.70.

In the currency markets, the US dollar is stronger against the euro and the British pound, and weaker versus the Japanese yen. The US dollar index is up 0.46% at 79.664.

In commodities, WTI and Brent crude are down this morning, with WTI down -0.52% at $106.16/barrel and Brent is down -0.53% at $123.14/barrel. Gold is down -0.79% this morning, at $1,690.50/ounce.

Paul Ausick