Stock Futures Fall Amid Greece Uncertainty

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stock futures were signaling a lower open Wednesday as investors remained deeply uncertain about Greece's future in the eurozone.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were shedding 77 points, or 92.1 points below fair value, at 12,790. Futures for the S&P 500 were falling 9.5 points, or 11.1 points below fair value, at 1349, and futures for the Nasdaq were losing 19.5 points, or 23.3 points below fair value, at 2603.

U.S. stocks dropped Tuesday as political turmoil in Greece renewed concerns about the country's ability to meet the terms of its bailout and remain a member of the eurozone.

The fears remained Wednesday ahead of a scheduled meeting between Alexis Tsipras, leader of the Greek radical left Syriza party, New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras and Pasok leader Evangelos Venizelos later in Athens.

Tsipras, who has been adamant about cancelling the harsh austerity measures imposed on Greece by its international lenders and hopes that the other parties will do the same, has until Thursday to form a new government. If a coalition is not formed by May 17, Greece will be faced with another general election.

European leaders, meanwhile, are keeping the pressure on Greece to abide by budget measures that were required in exchange for more than $300 billion of bailout loans. The goal has been to have Greece return to financial markets by 2015.

In Europe, London's FTSE was ticking down 0.5% and the DAX in Germany was flat. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong finished down 0.8%. Japan's Nikkei average slid 1.5%.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury was rising 7/32, diluting the yield to 1.82%. The dollar was up 0.3%, according to the dollar index.

On the U.S. economic calendar, the Commerce Department will be releasing wholesale inventories data for March at 10 a.m. EDT. A Thomson Reuters poll of economists suggests the reading will show a rise of 0.6% after a gain of 0.9% in the prior month.

In corporate news, AOL (AOL), the Internet media company, reported Wednesday first-quarter net income of $21.1 million, or 22 cents a share, up from year-earlier earnings of $4.7 million, or 4 cents. Revenue fell 4% from a year earlier to $529.4 million. Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of 7 cents a share on revenue of $526.48 million.

Shares of AOL fell 1.09% in premarket trading.

Social media company Demand Media (DMD) reported Tuesday first-quarter adjusted earnings of $5.9 million, or 7 cents a share, on revenue of $82.9 million, topping analysts' estimates of 5 cents a share on revenue of $79.7 million.

Shares of Demand Media were rising 22.95%.

Dow component Cisco (CSCO) will report fiscal third-quarter earnings after the closing bell Wednesday, and analysts expect profit of 47 cents a share on revenue of $11.57 billion. Cisco, the world's largest maker of computer networking equipment, is expected to reveal Wednesday more evidence of its turnaround.

Cisco shares were ticking down 0.64%.

Fellow Dow component Walt Disney (DIS) posted fiscal second-quarter revenue Tuesday of $9.63 billion, up 6% from last year and ahead of Wall Street's consensus view of $9.56 billion. Earnings excluding items at the media and entertainment giant came in at 58 cents a share, 3 cents ahead of analysts' estimates.

Shares were up 0.5%.

In commodity markets, the June crude oil contract was off 55 cents at $96.46 a barrel. June gold futures were slipping $20 to $1,584.50 an ounce.

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-- Written by Andrea Tse in New York.



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