Stock Futures Edge Lower on Eurozone Concerns

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stock futures were signaling a weaker open on Wall Street Tuesday as they followed international markets lower amid heightened uncertainties about the eurozone.

"Concerns over Spain and the rest of the eurozone come back to the forefront now that the U.S. has answered questions on QE3," said a Cantor Fitzgerald client note.

A gloomy assessment of the global economy by package delivery giant FedEx(FDX) in its quarterly report also wasn't helping sentiment.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were declining 18 points, or 23.10 points below fair value, to 13,452. Futures for the S&P 500 were down 1.7 points, or 2.04 points below fair value, at 1452. Futures for the Nasdaq were falling 1.5 points, or 4.84 points below fair value, at 2845.

In recent sessions, both Spanish and Italian bond yields have been on the rise, reflecting worries that both countries will eventually have to ask for official bailouts.

Meanwhile, some media reports indicate that the Spanish government is getting ready to seek a rescue facility, likely subsequent to regional elections in Galicia and the Basque country on Oct. 21.

The international markets were trading in the red on Tuesday.

The FTSE in London fell 0.58% and the DAX in Germany off 0.63% as "European markets move lower as auto sales in the region were weaker than expected and the eurozone holds their breath ahead of the Spanish bank stress test results 9/28," the Cantor Fitzgerald report explained. "Early losses were pared a bit following a better than expected Spanish bond auction this morning."

In Germany, the closely followed ZEW Economic Sentiment Survey increased 7.3 points to -18.2 points in September, the indicator's first increase after four declines in a row, as the ECB's bond buying announcement may have provided a lift, according to the Centre for European Economic Research. However, the negative value of the indicator shows that financial market experts still expect the German economy to lose momentum over the next six months, according to the report.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed down 0.27% and the Nikkei in Japan finished lower by 0.39% as anti-Japan protests escalated in China, leading more Japanese firms to halt their manufacturing operations in the country.