U.S. futures mixed, focus on central banks; Dow Jones down 0.08%

Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a mixed open on Tuesday, as a flurry of disappointing economic reports sparked fresh concerns over the outlook for global economic growth, adding to expectations for further easing measures by central banks.

Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.08% loss, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.06% decline, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.09% gain.

The Institute for Supply Management said its index of U.S. manufacturing activity dropped to 49.7 in June, falling below the 50 level which separates contraction from expansion for the first time since July 2009, from 53.5 in May.

The weak data increased the chances that the U.S. central bank may implement a third round of quantitative easing to shore up economic growth, which has been hit by the ongoing debt crisis in the euro zone.

In addition, investors were looking ahead to the outcome of the European Central Bank’s monetary policy meeting on Thursday, amid growing expectations for a rate cut.

The tech sector was expected to remain in focus on Tuesday, after Microsoft admitted its largest acquisition in the Internet sector was worthless and wiped out any profit for the last quarter, sending shares down 1.87% in pre-market trade.

The software giant said it is preparing to record a hefty USD6.2 billion write-down in its fourth quarter, mostly due to the disappointing performance of online advertising company aQuantive, which it acquired five years ago.

Meanwhile, Apple shares added 0.22% in early trading after a U.S. judge on Monday rejected a request by Samsung Electronics to lift a ban on U.S. sales of its Galaxy Tab 10.1, marking another setback for the South Korean firm in its tablet patent battle with the iPad maker.

Financial stocks were also likely to be active after Barclays Chief Executive Bob Diamond quit with immediate effect earlier Tuesday over an interest-rate-rigging scandal, becoming the highest-profile victim so far in a probe that spans a dozen major banks across the world.

The bank’s Chairman Marcus Agius had announced his resignation on Monday.

Morgan Stanley was also likely to be in the spotlight, after investors claimed that the U.S. bank successfully pushed Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service to give unwarranted investment-grade ratings in 2006 to USD23 billion worth of notes backed by subprime mortgages, according to a Bloomberg report.

The unsealing of the internal documents from Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s came in one of the largest ratings lawsuits to emerge from the 2008 financial crisis.

Elsewhere, Forest Laboratories was slated to move on Tuesday after investor Carl Icahn said he intends to look into disclosures that the company CEO Howard Solomon made before selling stock in the U.S. drug maker over the years.

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were moderately higher. The EURO STOXX 50 rose 0.32%, France’s CAC 40 eased up 0.09%, Germany's DAX climbed 0.51%, while Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.20%.

During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rallied 1.2%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index advanced 0.7%.

Later in the day, the U.S. was to release official data on factory orders.