U.S. futures lower as Fed minutes disappoint; Dow Jones down 0.81%

Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open on Thursday, as market sentiment waned after the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting dampened expectations for further easing steps to shore up growth.

Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.81% drop, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.85% decline, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.73% loss.

In the minutes of its June policy-setting meeting, the Fed indicated that the U.S. economy would have to worsen further before the central bank implements additional easing measures.

While a few policymakers said the bank should ease policy to move the economy toward its targets for full employment and stable prices, others indicated that more action could be warranted if growth slows, risks intensified or if inflation seemed likely to fall “persistently” below their goal.

Meanwhile, market sentiment also remained under pressure after the European Central Bank’s monthly bulletin reiterated that downside risks have materialized and that growth in the region will remain weak.

The tech sector was expected to be active, as sellers of Apple’s next-generation iPhone on China's largest e-commerce platform, Taobao, were reportedly accepting pre-orders of the device, which hasn’t been released yet.

Energy stocks were also likely to be active as the higher dollar weighed heavily on oil prices. In addition, Centrica, which owns British Gas, said it agreed to buy two New York-based power providers from a U.S. subsidiary of Iberdrola for USD110.2 million in cash to strengthen its position and increase its customer base in the U.S. Northeast. 

The British utility's North American subsidiary, Direct Energy Services, was also said to be buying Energetix and NYSEG Solutions, which operate out of Rochester and Binghamton, New York.

Elsewhere in corporate news, U.S. insurer Cigna signed a deal to buy a 51% stake in Finansbank's wholly owned insurance unit Finans Emeklilik for USD104 million.

Among earnings, Marriott International, the biggest publicly traded U.S. hotel chain, tumbled 2.29% in late trading after cutting its forecast for growth in revenue per available room outside North America on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. surged 4.22% in pre-market trade after the company said the trial of an advanced clinical study of an osteoporosis treatment met primary efficacy goals, leading the study’s data-monitoring committee to recommend ending the trial earlier than scheduled.

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were sharply lower. The EURO STOXX 50 tumbled 1.05%, France’s CAC 40 dropped 0.73%, Germany's DAX plunged 1.19%, while Britain's FTSE 100 plummeted 1.19%.

During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled 1.65%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index dropped 1.5%.

Also Thursday, official data showed that industrial production in the euro zone rose for the first time in three months in May, increasing by 0.6%. Analysts had expected a modest 0.1% decline.

Later in the day, the U.S. was to release government data on unemployment claims and official data on import prices.