This morning, the S&P 500 Index e-mini futures (ES-U2) are trading lower by 12.50 points to 1314.25 per contract. The decline in the futures market comes as Spain requests an official bailout. If Spain is in this much trouble we can only imagine what kind of trouble Italy is in. The falling domino effect in the European Union looks to be in motion. Traders should watch for early weakness in most of the European banks. Some leading European bank stocks such as Banco Santander, S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:AN), National Bank of Greece (ADR) (NYSE:NBG), and Deutsche Bank AG (USA) (NYSE:B) should all be under pressure at the start of the day.
Last night, most of the leading Asian stock indexes declined lower. The important and popular Shanghai Index (China) finished lower by 1.60 percent. This tells us that the Chinese ADR's will be under early pressure to start the day. Traders should watch for early weakness in the iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (ETF) (NYSEARCA:FXI).