U.S. Stock Index Futures Fall More Than 2.5 Percent

[Hissyspit]

Source: Reuters

@Reuters: FLASH: U.S. stock index futures open sharply lower after S&P credit downgrade

US STOCKS SNAPSHOT-Futures open down 2 pct after S&P downgrade

Sun Aug 7, 2011 6:06pm EDT

NEW YORK, Aug 7 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures opened sharply lower on Sunday in the first trading for domestic equities after Standard & Poor's cut the country's AAA credit rating.

Futures for all three major indexes sank more than 2.5 percent.

The cut in the U.S.'s long-term credit rating by a notch to AA-plus was unprecedented and resulted from concerns about the nation's budget deficits and climbing debt burden. While the move didn't come as a complete shock, it is likely to eventually raise borrowing costs for the American government,
companies and consumers.

S&P 500 futures SPc1 fell 32.8 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures DJc1 slumped 287 points and Nasdaq 100 futures NDc1 lost 57 points.

(Reporting by Ryan Vlastelica, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/07/markets-stocks-futuresopen-idUSWEN700020110807