NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Stock index futures fell on Friday as talk of a Greece default gained pace and a day after markets spiraled downward on deepening worries about global economic stagnation.
Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos was quoted by two newspapers as saying an orderly default with a 50 percent haircut for bondholders was one of three scenarios for resolving the country's fiscal woes. Venizelos called the reports an unhelpful distraction.
European stocks tumbled early Friday on fears the region's banks would take more writedowns on their Greek debt exposure. The FTSEurofirst 300 (.FTEU3) was off 2.2 percent. (.EU)
"We are selling off quite a bit here, and again, it's all on the news out of Europe," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York.
"We are also at the end of the quarter next week and large institutions are selling whatever they can to take profits, which is one of the reasons why gold and silver are lower. They are taking profits on the short side."
S&P 500 futures fell 17.9 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures slid 180 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 34.25 points.
On the corporate front, investors will watch shares of Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) after Meg Whitman, the former head of EBay Inc (EBAY.O) was named to run the computer and printer maker. The stock was down 0.9 percent at $22.60 in premarket trade.
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives regrouped in an after-midnight session to approve a must-pass spending bill, but the prospect of a government shutdown loomed as Democrats said it would go nowhere in the Senate.
UBS AG (UBSN.VX)(UBS.N) CEO Oswald Gruebel will try to convince his board on Friday that the Swiss bank has a future in investment banking and can bounce back from a $2.3 billion crisis around rogue trading.
Facebook unveiled new ways to listen to music and watch TV as it faces fresh competition from Google Inc (GOOG.O).
Nike Inc (NKE.N) staved off margin pressure in the first quarter with strong revenue and price increases. Shares were up 4.7 percent after the bell.
On Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) dropped 391.01 points, or 3.51 percent, to 10,733.83. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) lost 37.20 points, or 3.19 percent, to 1,129.56. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) slid 82.52 points, or 3.25 percent, to 2,455.67.
Wall Street's "fear gauge", the CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX), jumped 12 percent, giving the index its biggest two-day percentage spike in a month as investors protected themselves against future losses.
(Reporting by Angela Moon; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
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