U.S. futures lower as market sentiment wanes; Dow Jones down 0.28%

Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open on Tuesday, as market sentiment weakened amid growing concerns over the handling of Spain's sovereign debt crisis, while investors eyed the release of U.S. economic data later in the day.

Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.28% fall, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.23% decline, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.37% loss.

Market sentiment came under pressure amid rising Spanish borrowing costs and after Reuters reported earlier that Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy remains uncertain about asking for help from the European Central Bank's new bond-purchasing program, which would mean signing up to a permanent bailout fund.

Investors were also locking-in gains following the broad risk-rally sparked by the Federal Reserve's announcement last week that it will buy USD40 billion of mortgage-backed securities every month and that short-term interest rates will most likely stay at record low levels through at least mid-2015.

Automakers were expected to be active, after Moody's Investors Service said on Monday that sluggish demand in Europe and weakening sales in China will hurt the growth prospects for the global auto industry.

Separately, data earlier showed that European car sales fell 8.5% in August, posting an 11th consecutive monthly decline, led by Ford, General Motors and Fiat.

In the tech sector, Apple was likely to remain in focus, as the company's shares rose above USD700 in late trading on Monday after the tech giant announced record first-day orders for the latest iPhone. The news fueled optimism that the company will keep generating the revenue growth that transformed it into the world’s most valuable business.

Meanwhile, Advanced Micro Devices saw shares tumble 6.48% in pre-market trade, after announcing that CEO Thomas Seifert is leaving the struggling personal computer chipmaker.

Elsewhere in company news, Dole Food Company said it intends to sell two businesses to Itochu Corp for USD1.7 billion in cash. The deal is expected to help the fruit and vegetable producer pay down its heavy debt load while expanding Itochu's food presence in new markets such as China.

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were sharply lower. The EURO STOXX 50 tumbled 1.16%, France’s CAC 40 dropped 0.95%, Germany's DAX retreated 0.94%, while Britain's FTSE 100 slumped 0.65%.

During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.27%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index dropped 0.39%.

Later in the day, the U.S. was to release official data on the current account, as well as a report on the balance of domestic and foreign investment in long-term securities.