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 The party looked set to take on Greece's international lenders, with
leader Alexis Tsipras pledging to end five years of austerity and
renegotiate Greece's debt agreements. Investors were concerned that
potential conflicts with other euro zone governments could put more
strain on the currency bloc.
European shares <.FTEU3> were volatile after the election, falling
as much as 0.4 percent before rising by 0.5 percent. They last
traded up 0.2 percent. U.S.-listed shares of the National Bank of
Greece <NBG.N> fell 6.5 percent to $1.57 in premarket trading.
Last week's larger-than-expected stimulus program announced by the
European Central Bank could offset some concerns over Greece. Hopes
that a compromise could be reached between Athens and its lenders,
keeping Greece in the euro, may also support sentiment.
While Greece is a relatively small economy that the United States
has limited direct exposure to, extended volatility in the region
could hurt multinational companies. Separately, if the euro
continues to weaken against the dollar, that could be a headwind for
earnings.
The German government said a third debt restructuring was out of the
question for Greece, though it opened the door to a possible
extension of the country's current bailout program.
In deal news, Rock-Tenn Co <RKT.N> and MeadWestvaco Corp <MWV.N>
said they would combine to form a company worth $16 billion, with
MeadWestvaco shareholders owning a majority stake. AT&T Inc <T.N>
agreed to buy Nextel Mexico for $1.88 billion.
Ocwen Financial Corp <OCN.N> jumped after the company paid $2.5
million in penalties to the California Department of Business
Oversight, which had threatened to suspend Ocwen's license to
operate in the state. About 460,000 shares exchanged hands, making
the stock the New York Stock Exchange's most active premarket mover.
[to top of second column] |
Investors await some key earnings reports, including those of
Microsoft Corp and Texas Instruments Inc. With 18 percent of S&P 500
companies having reported, 72.2 percent have topped earnings
expectations, while 54.4 percent have beaten revenue forecasts,
according to Thomson Reuters data. That compares with the long-term
average of 63 percent for earnings and 61 percent for revenue.
Futures snapshot at 7:49 a.m.:
* S&P 500 e-minis were down 2.75 points, or 0.13 percent, with
162,301 contracts changing hands.
* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 0.5 points, or 0.01 percent, in volume
of 25,538 contracts.
* Dow e-minis <1YMc1> were down 35 points, or 0.2 percent, with
27,190 contracts changing hands.
(Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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