Stock futures fall with Microsoft, Greek worries linger

[January 27, 2015]  By Rodrigo Campos

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures fell on Tuesday, weighed by company earnings results including those of Microsoft, while concerns lingered over Greece's new anti-bailout government and its implications for the euro zone.

* The leftist government that came to power in Greece following elections on Sunday looks set on a collision course with the country's creditors. U.S.-traded shares of the National Bank of Greece <NBG.N> fell 17.4 percent in premarket trading to $1.28.

* Market participants were watching out for a snowstorm that appeared to have spared New York City but continues to pound parts of the U.S. Northeast. New York Stock Exchange spokesman Eric Ryan said Tuesday would be “business as usual” at the NYSE.

* Economic data expected on Tuesday includes December durable goods orders at 8:30 a.m. EST (1330 GMT), November Case Shiller home prices half an hour later and Markit's gauge of the U.S. services sector growth at 9:45 a.m. (1445 GMT). New home sales and consumer confidence data are also due shortly after the opening bell on Wall Street.
 

* Shares of Microsoft <MSFT.O> fell 7 percent in premarket trading the day after the Dow component reported earnings. The main engine of its historic earnings power, selling Windows and Office to big businesses, is showing signs of waning.

* Facebook shares fell 0.8 percent in light premarket trading after access to the world's largest social network and its Instagram photo-sharing site was blocked around the world for up to an hour on Tuesday. The company said the reason was an internal fault and not an outside attack.

* Procter & Gamble shares fell 2.6 percent in premarket trading after the world's largest household products maker reported a near 31 percent fall in quarterly profit, hurt by a stronger dollar.

* Pfizer reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results as sales of vaccines and cancer drugs increased, but the company forecast 2015 earnings below Wall Street expectations and its shares fell 1.8 percent in trading before the opening bell.

Futures snapshot at 7:23 a.m. EST (1223 GMT):

* S&P 500 e-minis were down 10.75 points, or 0.52 percent, with 100,162 contracts changing hands.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 28.25 points, or 0.66 percent, in volume of 17,994 contracts.

* Dow e-minis were down 120 points, or 0.68 percent, with 15,324 contracts changing hands.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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