Preopen Trading: Stocks Can't Shake Off Yesterday's Blues; Negative Opening Looks Likely

Stocks were looking to continue their struggles this morning as futures were suggesting a slightly bearish opening.

After yesterday's dismal afternoon, in which stocks slumped across the board, there was little news this morning to sway sentiment one way or the other.

Brocade(BRCD Quote) came out last night with better-than-expected earnings, but also said it expects its second-quarter growth to be very modest. The stock lately was off 19.4% to $36 in light volume on Instinet.

The news hurt software maker EMC (EMC Quote), which lately was down $2.56, or 6%, to $40.39 on Instinet.

Early on, futures were indicating a flat to negative opening. The S&P 500 futures on Globex lately were off 0.1 to 1256, about 2 points below fair value as calculated by Prudential Securities. The thinly traded Nasdaq 100 futures were down 24 to 2047, or about 18 points below fair value as calculated by TheStreet.com.

Europe's major indices were lower at midsession, with much of the drag coming from mobile phone makers Nokia(NOK Quote) and Ericsson(ERICY Quote). France's CAC-40 was down 0.6%, Germany's Xetra Dax was falling 1.2% and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was off 0.2%. Asian markets fared no better, ending the day with Japan's Nikkei 225 losing 0.2% overnight, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropping 1.7%.

For more on the world stock markets, check out TheStreet.com's global indices information.

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For Wednesday's postclose trading, see The Night Watch.