Futures Indicate Stocks Set To End Winning Climb; Earnings Continue To Be In Focus

Wednesday’s stock futures suggest that the joy of what a disappointing jobs figure could do to the future of the U.S. Federal Reserve's massive asset-purchase program appear to have given way to some introspection about the record run-up in stocks.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.48 percent while futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index were down 0.61 percent, and those on the Nasdaq 100 Index were down 0.65 percent.

With no big-ticket data releases scheduled for Wednesday, markets are expected to fix their attention on quarterly earnings announcements.

The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA), Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) and Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) are set to announce earnings before market hours on Wednesday. AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTXS) are among those that will announce their earnings after market hours.

In Europe too, quarterly earnings had an impact on markets, which broke a nine-day winning stretch and the benchmark index fell after recording its longest winning streak in more than three years, MarketWatch reported.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index was trading sharply down by 0.73 percent after closing at its highest level since 2008 on Tuesday. London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.49 percent while Germany's DAX-30 was down 0.46 percent and France's CAC-40 was trading down 0.98 percent.

In Asia, the U.S. dollar made weak by disappointing domestic jobs data, propped up local currencies including the Japanese yen, to push the Nikkei stock index sharply down 1.95 percent.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 1.36 percent and the Shanghai Composite dropped 1.25 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 ended the day down 0.32 percent while South Korea’s Kospi Composite Index fell 0.99 percent. India’s benchmark BSE Sensex ended the day, down 0.47 percent.