Stock Futures Tilt Lower

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stock futures were leaning lower Wednesday after a three-day rally as the markets followed European markets to the downside.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were slipping 60 points, or 53.60 points below fair value, at 13,059. Futures for the S&P 500 were down 5.2 points, or 5.3 points below fair value, at 1392. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 were dipping 6 points, or 8.21 points below fair value, at 2704.

U.S. stocks finished with modest gains Tuesday after a Federal Reserve official called for an aggressive asset purchase program.

Investor sentiment also got a lift from chatter about a coordinated bond-buying action in Europe and easing concerns about the Chinese economy.

The Labor Department said preliminary second-quarter productivity rose at a 1.6% annual rate and unit labor costs increased at a 1.7% rate. Economists surveyed by Reuters had expected productivity to rise by 1.3% and unit labor costs to increase by 0.6%.

September crude oil futures were down 82 cents at $92.85 a barrel amid indications of softening U.S. demand.

December gold futures were down $3.10 at $1,609.70 an ounce.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury rose 3/32, diluting the yield to 1.621%. The greenback was up 0.21%, according to the dollar index.

The FTSE in London was down 0.55% and the DAX in Germany was down 0.71% as the Bank of England reduced its outlook on the United Kingdom's economy, Dutch bank ING(ING) reported losses related to its exposure to Spain, Greece's rating outlook was slashed by Standard & Poor's and German industrial production in June declined a bit more than expected.

The Hong Kong Hang Seng index finished flat and the Nikkei in Japan closed up 0.88% as investors awaited a batch of China data later this week.

The spate of China data this week includes inflation, industrial production, retail sales and fixed asset investment on Thursday and trade data on Friday.