Stock futures down on Moody's warnings, Greece
Stock index futures fell on Thursday as a Moody's warning of a possible downgrade of global banks and a further holdup in a bailout for debt-laden Greece kept investors nervous.
* Moody's said it might cut the credit ratings of 17 global and 114 European financial institutions in another sign the impact of the euro zone debt crisis was spreading. Among the banks listed were Morgan Stanley
* European shares were down 0.7 percent Thursday morning and the euro fell to a three-week low after on the delay over Greece.
* S&P 500 futures dipped 7.2 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures lost 43 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 7.5 points.
* On the economic side, the U.S. Commerce Department will release housing starts and permits at 8:30 a.m. EST. Economists in a Reuters survey forecast an annualized rate of 675,000 for January starts versus 657,000 in December.
* Weekly jobless claims will be released by the Labor Department also at 8:30 a.m. EST (1330 GMT). Economists look for a reading of 365,000, compared with 358,000 last week.
* At the same time, the Producer Price Index for January is expected to show an increase of 0.4 percent, compared with a 0.1 percent decline in December.
* Google Inc
* Retailers in more Chinese cities were ordered by authorities to take Apple Inc
* Data storage equipment maker NetApp Inc
* AMR Corp
* Underwear maker Hanesbrands Inc
* U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday for the third time in four sessions, with market direction largely dictated by swings in the shares of Apple Inc
(Reporting by Angela Moon; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
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