Wall Street set to open lower
Wall Street was set for a lower open on Friday as concerns over the euro-zone debt crisis and U.S. financial reform fractured investor confidence in risky assets.
S&P futures oscillated on either side of the 1,060 mark, the level hit at the bottom of the still-unexplained market flash crash on May 6.
The Senate approved a sweeping Wall Street reform bill Thursday night, capping months of wrangling over the biggest overhaul of financial regulation since the 1930s.
Germany's parliament approved a plan to allow its government to contribute to a 750 billion euro ($940 billion) emergency debt package despite wide public opposition to the move.
Congress is trying to work out something, the Germans are trying to work out something. There is a mosaic there that is so confusing to most people that it is pulling a lot of bids out of the marketplace of all types, said Cummins Catherwood, managing director of Boenning and Scattergood in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.
In the end, you have sort of a black mood right now.
On Thursday, the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility index <.VIX>, Wall Street's so-called fear gauge, closed at its highest since March 2009, up 29.6 percent at 45.79.
S&P 500 futures fell 10 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures dropped 97 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures shed 18.25 points.
May equity options and some options on stock indexes will stop trading at Friday's close and settle on Saturday, which may increase volatility.
The sweeping Wall Street reform measure, set to go to the U.S. House of Representatives, will keep financial shares in focus. In premarket trade, Bank of America Corp fell 1 percent to $15.16, and JP Morgan Chase & Co slipped 1.1 percent to $37.42.
Dell Inc shed 3.9 percent to $13.76 premarket after the computer maker said late Thursday that its gross margin fell short of estimates and warned that component supplies will remain tight.
Salesforce.com slid 8 percent to $72.75 after the Web-based software maker forecast full-year profit at the low end of expectations.
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
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