No Sunshine In The US Stock Markets

Hurt by the staggering losses posted by Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC) and the Chinese clamping down on lending, US stock futures across the indexes slipped today. While futures at S&P 500 slipped 6.8 points to 1138.90, those at NASDAQ 100 dropped 11 points to 1878.70. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures also plummeted by 52 points.

Meanwhile, European pharmaceuticals like Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) continued to rally today. However, markets remained disturbed after the China Securities Journal reported that certain Chinese banks were asked to stop granting new loans in January. The news dragged down the Shanghai Composite by 2.9%.

Following the reports, other markets remained quiet, with the Nikkei 225 slipping 0.3% in Tokyo and the FTSE 100 losing 0.9% in London.

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