US futures decline on Cisco outlook

Futures on major U.S. indices point to a lower opening on Thursday as weaker-than-expected sales and revenue forecast from Cisco Systems weighed on the sentiment.

Futures on the S&P 500 are down 0.48 percent, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average are down 0.34 percent and Nasdaq100 futures are down 0.70 percent.

Investors are monitoring the direction of talks at the G20 summit which got under way today, where the focus is on current account imbalances and currency valuations.

Shares of Cisco Systems will be in focus after reporting weaker-than-expected sales and revenue forecast for the second quarter and fiscal 2011 in the after-hours session on Wednesday. The company shares plunged 11.88 percent in premarket trading on Thursday.

Cisco expects second quarter sales to grow 3 percent to 5 percent year-over-year, implying sales of $10.11 billion to $10.31 billion, lower than analysts' forecast of $11.08 billion and it expects fiscal 2011 to grow 9 percent to 12 percent, implying sales of $43.64 billion to $44.84 billion, lower than analysts' guidance of $45.28 billion.

Crude oil futures advanced 0.60 percent to $88.34/barrel and Copper futures surged 2.65 percent after Moody’s Investors Service raised China’s debt rating to Aa3 from A1.

On Wednesday, US stocks ended with gains after paring losses in the final hours of trade as slide in dollar after an earlier rally boosted trade.

The euro declined 0.54 percent to 1.3708 against the dollar and the yen gained 0.01 percent against the greenback.

European markets are currently trading lower with FTSE 100 down by 4.33 points, DAX30 down by 0.15 points and CAC 40 down by 15.89 points.

In Asia, a surge in food prices propelled Chinese consumer prices to a 25-month high in October, despite the government's efforts to control inflation. Chinese consumer price index (CPI), a major gauge of inflation, rose to 4.4 percent in October compared with 3.6 percent in September.