U.S. stock futures fall after another big drop on Wall Street

PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. stock futures fell Thursday, August 11, following European markets lower and a day after another big drop on Wall Street.

Worries have focused on the health of European banks, particularly those in France, this week. The head of France's central bank said Thursday that the country's banks are solid and blamed "unfounded rumors" for big drops in their stocks. The French CAC 40 stock index fell 2.8 percent.

Investors worry that Europe's debt problems could hurt the banks that own European government bonds. Because of how intertwined the global financial system is, pain for European banks could lead to more trouble for the U.S. banking industry and economy.

About 45 minutes ahead of the opening, Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 66 points, or 0.6 percent, to 10,659. S&P 500 index futures fell 9.80, or 0.9 percent, to 1,113.70. Nasdaq 100futures fell 9.50 , or 0.5 percent, to 2,075.50. Stock futures don't always accurately predict how markets will open.

U.S. stock futures had been solidly higher earlier in the morning, and are not always a reliable indicator of how the market will open, the Associated Press reported.

The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the first time fell below 400,000 for the first time in four months. That could be a sign that the labor market is slowly improving after job growth slowed to an average of 72,000 in May, June and July. In the previous three months, employers added an average of 215,000 jobs per month.