Stock Futures Fall as Greek Talks Drag On

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stock futures were sliding Thursday as Greek faced an increasing time crunch for securing a second bailout package from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were declining 42 points, or 32.9 points below fair value, at 12,721. Futures for the S&P 500 were down 6.6 points, or 5.1 points below fair value, at 1335. Futures for the Nasdaq were down 6.5 points, or 4.5 points below fair value, at 2551.

Stocks closed lower Wednesday as reports that Greece's creditors were delaying the country's bailout eclipsed news that China may provide financial support to the eurozone.

As a March 20 deadline for repaying its debt quickly approaches, Greece must convince its German-led European partners that it will carry out conditions necessary for receiving its second bailout package of €130 billion. The country urgently needs this and a €100-billion write-down on privately held sovereign debt to prevent a massive default that could rock the global financial markets.

European partners continue to express skepticism about Greece's ability to fulfill deal requirements as it had backpedaled on promises in the past. While Athens hopes that it can eradicate doubts by the next meeting of eurozone finance ministers on Monday, there have been suggestions of finding ways to hold off on the complete delivery of the bailout until after Greece's early elections in April, while at the same time avoiding a chaotic default.

Greek finance minister Evangelos Venizelos meanwhile indicated that a €325-million gap in Greece's budget this year can be plugged.

The euro had fallen to a three-week low against the dollar as talks dragged on.

As the eurozone continues to fight its debt crisis, Moody's warns that it may cut the credit ratings of 17 global and 114 European financial institutions. The credit ratings of Morgan Stanley(MS) , UBS(UBS) and Credit Suisse(CS) could be cut three notches by Moody's because of the risks associated with the eurozone debt crisis.

Germany's DAX was siding 1% while London's FTSE was falling 0.69%. Japan's Nikkei Average settled down 0.24% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed lower by 0.41%.

U.S. economic releases on Thursday includes weekly initial and continuing jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. EST; housing starts and building permits for January at 8:30 a.m.; the producer price index for January at 8:30 a.m.; and the Philadelphia Fed regional manufacturing activity survey for February at 10 a.m.

The Commerce Department is expected to report that housing starts climbed 2% to a 670,000 annual rate after dropping 4.1% in December, while initial jobless claims are expected to spike to 365,000 after falling to 358,000 last week.

In corporate news, In corporate news, General Motors(GM) booked the highest profits in the company's history in 2011. The auto giant made $7.6 billion for the year, representing a 62% over 2010, while revenue gained 11% to $105 billion. However, profits for the fourth quarter were flat.

J.M. Smucker(SJM) posted adjusted third-quarter profit of $1.22 a share, down from $1.27 a year earlier. Revenue rose 12% to $1.47 billion. Analysts were expecting profit of $1.41 a share on revenue of $1.54 billion.

NetApp(NTAP) , the data storage software company, posted in-line results for its fiscal third quarter and provided a fourth-quarter outlook that sits within analysts' ranges. NetApp reported non-GAAP profit of $216 million, or 58 cents a share, for quarter ended in January on revenue of $1.57 billion, matching analysts' estimates. For its fiscal fourth quarter ending in April, NetApp said it expects non-GAAP earnings of 60 cents to 65 cents a share on revenue ranging from $1.65 billion to $1.73 billion. Analysts forecast profit of 63 cents a share on revenue of $1.68 billion.

Nvidia(NVDA) , the graphics chipmaker, forecast revenue of $900 million to $930 million for its fiscal first quarter ending in April. Analysts were expecting sales of $944.6 million.

March oil futures were sliding 48 cents to $101.32 a barrel. In other commodities, April gold futures were falling $8.20 to $1,719.90 an ounce.

The dollar index was up 0.3%. The benchmark 10-year Treasury was up 3/32, diluting the yield to 1.919%.

-- Written by Andrea Tse in New York.

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