Stock Futures Decline After ECB Disappoints

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stock futures were weakening Thursday as the European Central Bank's latest policy announcement disappointed hopes of a strong signal on stimulus action from the central bank.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were falling 55 points, or 51.13 points below fair value, at 12,868. Futures for the S&P 500 were down 7.4 points, or 7.77 points below fair value, at 1363, while futures for the Nasdaq 100 were down 13 points, or 17.08 points below fair value, at 2612.

ECB President Mario Draghi said at a press conference after the ECB meeting that policymakers may undertake outright open market operations within the mandate,may push ahead with fiscal consolidation, and may consider undertaking further non-standard measures as economic growth in the eurozone remains weak. He said current, high sovereign bond yields were unacceptable.

Draghi said he will design appropriate modalities for policy measures over the next couple of weeks and that concerns of market participants about seniority will be addressed.

"Draghi headlines have starting coming out ... and there does not seem to be any new meaningful program announced," said Ian Lyngen, strategist at CRT. "Overall, falling short of expectations for a grand program that supports the euro and euro-area economies."

The euro eased after the ECB announcement.

However, the Spanish and Italian 10-year yields were coming down a bit on bond market expectations that Draghi would make a move.

The FTSE in London was falling by 0.49% and the DAX in Germany was down by 0.29%.

The Labor Department said before the markets open that initial jobless claims for the week ended July 28 increased by 8,000 to 365,000 from the previous week's upwardly revised figure of 357,000. The four-week moving average was 365,500, a decrease of 2,750 from the previous week's revised average of 368,250. Economists, on average, expected initial jobless claims of 370,000.

Continuing claims for the week ended July 21 fell by 19,000 to 3.272 million.

The Commerce Department is predicted to say at 10 a.m. that factory orders rose 0.5% in June after increasing 0.7% in May.