Friday, July 06, 2012 8:10:18 AM

How is the stock market today? U.S. stock futures were trading in red territory as anxious investors wait for data on U.S nonfarm payrolls for June amid rising concerns over global economic slowdown which prompted major central banks to lowere interest rates on Thursday even as IMF’s Managing Director, Christine Lagarde said in her speech in Tokyo on Friday that global economic outlook was “worrisome”.


At last check, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 21 points to 12,811, and S&P 500 futures fell 2.7 points to 1,358.70, while Nasdaq 100 futures edged lower by 4.5 points to 2,638.

Although the ADP report on Thursday showed that private sector added more jobs than analysts’ expectations, it is still difficult to predict an improvement in non-farms job data as some other economic indicators such as factory orders were dismal.

Elsewhere in Europe, shares traded lower as ECB’s key interest rates cut failed to enthuse the market participants as they expected more aggressive approach from the central bank. At last check, the Pan European Stoxx 600 index was down 0.22%.

On U.S. economic news front, in addition to non-farms payrolls data, the unemployment report is also due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern.

Shares that are likely to trade actively include: Informatica Corp. (NASDAQ: INFA), Xyratex Ltd. (NASDAQ: XRTX).

Software Company Informatica announced that fiscal second-quarter earnings and revenue will fall short of earlier expectations. The company said that it failed to rapidly adapt itself rapidly to the changing macroeconomic environment, particularly in Europe. Shares tumbled 26% to $32.10 in afterhours trading.

Xyratex posted a profit for its fiscal second-quarter as storage-systems provider continued to improve its margins, while its revenues from the core enterprise data-storage division dropped. Shares gained 7.5% to $12.60 in afterhours.

Falling market sentiment had also effect on oil markets with Nymex Nymex crude-oil futures dropping $1.59 to $85.63 a barrel in electronic trade.

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