DOW JONES

Asian, European and U.S. stocks fell hard Wednesday on rising fears and uncertainty about a possible Greek exit from the euro zone as well as concerns over slowing economic growth.

Futures on major U.S. stock indices point to a lower opening Wednesday ahead of new home sales data for April and a European Union summit.

Asian stock markets declined Wednesday as renewed concerns of Greece's probable exit from the euro zone dampened sentiment.

Comments regarding a rebound in the Chinese economy from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development lifted stocks earlier Tuesday and kept Asian and European bourses in the green. The comments came after Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said last weekend his government would focus more on growth than inflation.

Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras announced Tuesday the company has tens of billions of barrels of oil to be developed from offshore oil fields.

Futures on major U.S. stock indices point to a slightly lower opening Tuesday ahead of existing home sales data that are expected to show a rise in April sales.

The strain in this relationship between Germany and France was apparent Monday as finance ministers from both countries failed to resolve the question whether the euro zone would benefit from issuing joint European bonds. Berlin rejects the idea, stipulating that struggling economies need to clean up their messes before being given a reason not to.

Futures on major U.S. indices point to a slight rebound on Wall Street Monday after a string of losses last week amid worries Greece might leave the euro and an emerging debt crisis in Spain.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.85 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.49 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.79 percent at 0842 GMT.

Low-power processor maker ARM Holdings PLC (Nasdaq: ARMH) is stepping up the rhetoric against chip rival Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC), saying it expects to take more of Intel's share in the notebook personal-computer market than Intel can take from it in the smartphone market.

World stock markets fell Friday, slammed by ratings cuts for Greece and five of its banks, which were announced ahead of a crucial Group of 8 summit this weekend. While Facebook's much-anticipated initial public offering provided a temporary distraction for traders, its first-day performance concluded with more of a whimper than a bang.

U.S. steelmaker Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE) said Friday it will buy Skyline Steel LLC and its subsidiaries from Luxembourg's mining and steel company ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT) for $605 million.

The ratio of bad debt held by Spanish banks increased in March and hit an 18-year high of 8.37 percent, or $187.5 billion, the country?s central bank announced on Friday. The number of nonperforming loans with payments that are 90 days overdue is now about 10 times larger than it was during the peak of the property boom in 1997.

Futures on major U.S. indices point to a slightly higher opening Friday ahead of the commencement of public trading of Facebook.

European stocks lost big Thursday as Greek banks were cut loose from European Central Bank support and Spain's borrowing costs kept skyrocketing. The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, also warned today of the extremely expensive consequences of Greece leaving the currency bloc.

The European Central Bank in Frankfurt said Wednesday it is temporarily cutting off liquidity to Greek banks that are inadequately capitalized, pushing the onus of emergency assistance on the Greek central bank.

More Americans than expected filed for jobless benefits last week, echoing comments in the minutes of the April Federal Open Market Committee meeting that suggested policymakers feel unsure about the true state of the labor market.

Futures on major U.S. indices point to a flat opening on Thursday ahead of economic data including weekly jobless claims

Greece continued to weigh heavily on confidence Wednesday as bank customers there began sending cash out of the country or hiding it under their beds -- this despite hints from German Chancellor Angela Merkel that a stimulus would be forthcoming if the country stuck to its austerity commitments.

U.S. investors bought shares of industrials, airlines, gold mining companies and agricultural assets Wednesday as robust economic data offset fears stoked by the likelihood of Greece leaving the euro zone.

U.S. builders began work on more homes than expected in April, government figures showed on Wednesday. But the data suggested that builders might also be slowing their future construction plans.