By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures were lower Tuesday, a
day after a brutal selloff, as a renewed slide in oil prices
promised more pressure ahead.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (SPH5) fell 9
points to 17,441 and those for the S&P 500 index (SPH5) slipped
1 points, or 0.2%, to 2,014.80. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 (NDH5)
pulled back 5.5 points, or 0.1%, to 4,156.25.
On Tuesday, U.S. stock markets took a battering as crude-oil
prices slid again and as the dollar (DXY) surged. The S&P 500
marked its biggest one-day loss in three months, falling 37.62
points, or 1.8%. The Dow also had its worst down day since October,
dropping 331.34 points as 28 of its 30 components closed lower. The
Nasdaq Composite fell 1.6%.
Crude extended losses on Tuesday, with U.S. oil futures (CLG5)
down more than 2%, below $49 a barrel. Brent futures were also more
than 2% lower.
"The economic conditions that oil faces continue to be
aggressively against the commodity, making buyers extremely
hesitant to even consider entering long positions," said Jameel
Ahmad, chief market analyst at FXTM, in a Tuesday note. "There are
also suspicions that as oil companies struggle to adapt to lower
profits, there could be mergers and acquisitions taking place in
the future and this will weigh on investor sentiment. What's the
answer to this equation? Bearish moves for oil."
Investors will get a look at activity in the services sector
when the Institute for Supply Management releases December data at
10 a.m. Eastern Time. ISM's manufacturing index, released Friday,
showed a slowing in U.S. activity. A report on factory orders in
November is also due at 10 a.m. Eastern.
There are no Federal Reserve speakers scheduled for Tuesday,
ahead of the release Wednesday of minutes from the Federal Open
Market Committee's meeting in mid-December. But the key data event
this week is the U.S. monthly jobs report for December, due
Friday.
Stocks to Watch: Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) has approached
AOL Inc.(AOL) about a possible acquisition or joint venture,
Bloomberg reported Monday, citing people with knowledge of the
matter.
Cyberonics Inc.(CYBX) shares fell Monday evening after the
medical device maker said an appeals board supported a 2007
decision by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid denying coverage
of the company's pacemaker-like device for treating depression.
Other markets: In Asia, the Nikkei fell 3% to post its biggest
one-day loss in nearly 10 months. Mainland Chinese stocks bucked
the general regional trend with a gain of less than 1%. European
stocks fell after a clutch of lackluster economic data. The U.K.'s
FTSE 100 was off more than 1%.
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires