U.S. stock futures point to lower open; Dow futures shed 0.1%

Investing.com – U.S. stock futures pointed to lower open on Wednesday, as renewed concerns over the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis weighed and as investors awaited a government report on U.S. new home sales.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed a drop of 0.1%, the S&P 500 futures indicated a loss of 0.2%, while Nasdaq 100 futures slumped 0.35%.

Portugal’s parliament was to vote on a fresh round of austerity measures later in the day. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Jose Socrates threatened to resign if the vote failed to pass, fanning fears that the country was moving closer to an international bailout.

In earnings news, Adobe Systems saw shares drop 1.3% in pre-market trade after it lowered its revenue forecast for the second quarter of 2011 by USD50 million, citing the earthquake in Japan, which is its second largest market from a revenue perspective.

For the current quarter, the software designer reported an 85% increase in net income, while revenue rose nearly 20% from a year earlier to USD1.02 billion. 

Shares in food processing giant General Mills slumped 1.9% after it reported third quarter revenue of USD3.65 billion, falling short of expectations for revenue of USD3.95 billion.

Electronic circuit board manufacturer Jabil Circuits saw shares rally 8.8% after it said second quarter profit soared by 46% to USD55.4 million. Revenue in the quarter rose by 23% to USD3.9 billion, driven by an overall rebound in demand for electronic devices.

Meanwhile, shares in the largest U.S. homebuilder PulteGroup surged 5.2% after Goldman Sachs added the stock to its ‘Conviction Buy’ list and raised its price target by 28% to USD10.

Also Wednesday, biotechnology firm Xoma saw shares plunge 33.8% after the group said its diabetes treatment drug failed to lower blood sugar in a clinical trial.

Other stocks in focus included chip manufacturer Micron Technology, which was slated to report earnings results later in the day, and Apple, which said that its senior vice president of software engineering would be leaving the company.     

In Europe, the EURO STOXX 50 shed 0.3%, France’s CAC 40 eased down 0.1%, Germany's DAX shed 0.31%, while the FTSE 100 dipped 0.05%.

During the Asian trading session, Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index tumbled 1.65% as market sentiment was weighed by reports that higher-than-allowed levels of radioactive iodine had turned up in Tokyo tap water.

Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish official data on new home sales, while Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke was to deliver a speech at a public engagement.