U.S. futures lower after European elections; Dow Jones down 0.49%

Investing.com - U.S. stock futures were lower on Monday, as investor confidence weakened after Sunday’s elections in Greece and France renewed concerns over the handling of the sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone.  

Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a fall of 0.49%, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.50% decline, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated 0.55% loss.


In Greece, neither of the two pro-bailout parties secured enough votes to form a majority in parliament, as voters favored smaller parties who campaigned against the harsh government austerity program, throwing the future of the country’s international bailout agreement into doubt.

Meanwhile, in France President Nicolas Sarkozy was defeated by socialist candidate François Hollande, who has been critical of the country's austerity program.

Car makers were expected to be active after General Motors and its China joint ventures sold 227,217 vehicles in the country in April, up 11.7% from a year earlier.

Satellite imagery company DigitalGlobe was also likely to be in focus after it rejected a USD792 million takeover offer from rival GeoEye on Sunday saying the hostile bid substantially undervalued the company and its financial prospects.

Also in corporate news, Westlake Chemical Corp., the maker of vinyl and plastics, withdrew its unsolicited USD1.2 billion bid to buy Georgia Gulf Corp., North America’s largest maker of vinyl construction products, after the sweetened offer was rejected as too low.

Elsewhere, the FCC turned aside an application by Liberty Media to take control of Sirius XM Radio, calling the application “defective” and “not warranted.”  Liberty owns convertible preferred shares which could be turned into a 40% stake in the satellite radio operator.

In addition, Comcast said that NBC Universal (the parent of CNBC) is exercising an option to sell most of its stake in the A&E cable channel, and that the deal would likely close in the second half of the year. The transaction would be worth about USD2 billion.

Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., the film and television studio, was slated to move during Monday’ session as it won approval to release “The Hunger Games” in China, Chief Executive Officer Jon Feltheimer said, gaining access to the world’s third-biggest movie market.

Other stocks in focus included Walt Disney Co., as the company’s movie “Marvel’s The Avengers” posted record ticket sales of USD200.3 million in the U.S. and Canada its opening weekend, topping the performance last year of Time Warner Inc.’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.”

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were lower. The EURO STOXX 50 fell 0.26%, France’s CAC 40 declined 0.20%, Germany's DAX dropped 0.89%. Markets in the U.K. remained closed due to a national holiday.

During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index plummeted 2.85%, while markets in Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index plunged 2.85%.