US Stock Futures Continue To Be In Shadows

US stock index futures point to a lower open today as investors continue to be worried about sovereign debt issues in the Eurozone. While futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 20 points at 9921 just two hours before the start of trading, those on the S&P 500 added 1.1 points to 1060.9. Meanwhile, Nasdaq 100 futures lost one point to 1744.

Investors are looking forward to the release of the employment report, which is set to be released on Thursday. Economists are looking for a drop in the number of workers filing for unemployment benefits, which fell for the first time last week to 465,000 from 480,000.

Most of the overseas markets fell today. European stocks gave up early gains as investors were concerned about the impact of sovereign-debt problems on banks and insurers. While the pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index has lost about 0.2% after rising nearly 1% earlier, stocks trading in Athens and Lisbon had a squarely downward march.

Meanwhile, sovereign debt issue losses in the energy and industrial sector dragged stocks to 5-month lows in Asia. However, bargain-buying in banks and miners limited losses in some markets. Japan's Nikkei 225 shed 1.1% to slip below the psychologically important 10,000-point level to finish at 9951.82. Contrary to South Korea's Kospi that lost 0.9% and China's Shanghai Composite that slipped 0.1%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.2%.

Read more from Benzinga's Markets.