U.S. futures mixed to lower as E.Z. concerns weigh; Dow Jones down 0.19%

Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a weaker open on Thursday, reversing the previous day’s strong rally as concerns over the debt crisis in the euro zone continued to dominate market sentiment.

Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a decline of 0.19%, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.31% drop, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.05% loss.

Market sentiment found support earlier, after well received French and Spanish bond auctions. Spain’s Treasury auctioned the full targeted amount of EUR3.75 billion of government bonds, while France auctioned EUR4.5 billion of debt.

But investors remained jittery after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said downside risks to the economic outlook have increased, adding that the bank's temporary measures are only limited.

Netflix saw shares decline 4.67% after Wedbush Securities downgraded the stock to “underperform,” citing concern over subscriber losses, rising content costs and Netflix's “growth at all costs” business model.

Meanwhile, financial stocks were sharply higher after the Federal Reserve and five other central banks lowered the cost of dollar funding and China cut its reserve rates for banks on Wednesday.

Shares in Citigroup surged 8.87% and JP Morgan jumped 8.44%, while Goldman Sachs and Bank of America soared 7.94% and 7.30% respectively.

In the telecom sector, AT&T shares soared 3.28% after reporting it was discussing options with T-Mobile USA's parent Deutsche Telekom, including forming a joint venture to pool the wireless operators' network assets.

Pfizer, the maker of Lipitor was up 3.45%, as it was hoping to hold on to at least a third of the 3 million Americans who take the high-selling cholesterol fighter, as the medication went generic on Wednesday.

Other stocks in focus included Yahoo, following reports that Blackstone, Bain, Alibaba and Softbank are in formal discussions about a bid for the internet corporation.

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were mixed. The EURO STOXX 50 fell 0.53%, France’s CAC 40 declined 0.61%, Germany's DAX dropped 0.75%, while Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.41%.

During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index soared 5.6%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index jumped 1.95%.

Later in the day, the U.S. was to release its weekly report on initial jobless claims, while the Institute of Supply Management was to release data on manufacturing activity.