Worsening Euro Zone Crisis Drag US Stock Futures

The U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower opening Wednesday as investor confidence continued to be dragged down with no resolution to the euro zone crisis visible on the horizon.

The futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.10 percent, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index were down 0.15 percent and those on the Nasdaq 100 index were down 0.61 percent.

Investors are expected to focus on new home sales data for June to be reported by the Census Bureau. New home sales, measuring the annualized number of new single-family homes that were sold during the previous month, are expected to rise to 370,000, up from 369,000 in May.

After the market closed Tuesday, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) reported their quarterly earnings, which were rather disappointing. The company reported a net profit for the third quarter of $8.82 billion or $9.32 per share, up from $7.31 billion or $7.79 per share for the same period in the earlier year. Analysts had expected earnings of $10.36 per share for the quarter. Apple also said that it is expecting revenue of $34 billion for the fourth quarter which is less than the analysts' expectation of $38 billion.

Investors are worried that Greece has already fallen well behind the fiscal and structural reform targets that were set by the Troika, comprising the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in March. This could result in suspending all further loan payments from the second rescue package for Greece, which in turn could plunge the country into deeper economic crisis.

Meanwhile, market players are also concerned about the amount of sovereign funding needed by Spain as its borrowing costs go up. Investors also sense that government bond yields in Italy could continue to rise along with their Spanish counterparts.

On Tuesday, the U.S. markets fell as investor sentiment turned negative with continuing concerns over the economic condition in the euro zone. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.82 percent, the S&P 500 Index declined 0.9 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.94 percent.

Major European indices fell due to investor woes regarding the economic situation in Spain, Italy and Greece. London’s FTSE 100 was down 15.92 points, Germany's DAX 30 Index fell 4.50 points and France's CAC 40 dropped 0.98 points.

Asian stocks fell amid deepening concerns among market players as the euro zone crisis continues to impact the global economic condition adversely.