Stock Futures Fall on Greece, U.S. Fiscal Cliff Concerns

The FTSE 100 in London was falling 0.45% on Monday, while the DAX in Germany was down 0.18%.

Japan's Nikkei average settled up 0.24% as exporters got a boost amid anticipation of more easing from the Bank of Japan and a weaker yen.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed down by 0.24%.

Gold for December delivery was sliding $1.60 at $1,749.80 an ounce at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, while January crude oil contracts were down 55 cents at $87.73.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury was rising 8/32, diluting the yield to 1.665%. The dollar was up 0.06%, according to the U.S. dollar index.

The major U.S. equity averages soared Friday as long checkout lines and positive economic data out of China and Germany supplied the fuel for a Black Friday lift-off.

No major U.S. economic releases were expected on Monday.

In corporate news, Knight Capital Group (KCG) could sell its market-making business -- the company's biggest and most profitable business -- but also the unit that suffered a trading glitch in August that cost the company losses of more than $460 million in the third quarter, a report said.

The securities firm has been approached by at least two rivals about its market-making operation, according to The Wall Street Journal. Knight expects to receive proposals this week from high-speed trading firms Getco and Virtu Financial, people briefed on the discussions told the newspaper.

Shares were surging by more than 15% in premarket trading.

UnitedHealth Group (UNH) gave 2013 earnings guidance that was below the average Wall Street target.

Shares were down 0.85%. Yahoo! (YHOO) shares were popping by more than 1.5% after the digital media stock was placed on Goldman Sachs' conviction buy list and the global investment banking and securities firm raised its price target on shares to $24.

Facebook (FB) shares were jumping by close to 3% after shares of the social media giant were upgraded to outperform from market perform at Bernstein.

Apple (AAPL) asked a federal court to add six more products to its patent infringement lawsuit against South Korea's Samsung. The products include the Galaxy Note II, Galaxy S III with Android 4.1, Galaxy S III mini, Samsung Rugby Pro, Galaxy Tab 8.9 Wi-Fi and Galaxy Tab 2 10.1.

Shares were up 0.19%.

Online retailers such as Amazon (AMZN)and eBay (EBAY), and more traditional retailers such as Wal-Mart (WMT) and Target (TGT), could see activity on Cyber Monday, when shoppers take to the Web to make their holiday purchases.

ComScore estimated that Cyber Monday sales could exceed $1.5 billion.

-- Written by Andrea Tse in New York.



>To contact the writer of this article, click here: Andrea Tse.

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