U.S. futures steady, Alcoa to kick off earnings; Dow Jones up 0.03%

Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a steady open on Tuesday, as global growth concerns continued to dampen investor confidence, while investors eyed quarterly earnings reports to be published this week, beginning with Alcoa after the closing bell on Tuesday.

Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.03% rise, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.05% gain, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.08% loss.

Market sentiment weakened after the International Monetary Fund cut its global growth forecasts and warned of even slower expansion unless officials in the U.S. and Europe address threats to their economies.

The IMF said that the world economy will grow 3.3% this year, the slowest since the 2009 recession, and 3.6% next year, compared with July predictions of 3.5% in 2012 and 3.9% in 2013.

Investors also remained cautious amid uncertainty over how soon Spain may formally request a bailout lingered after euro zone finance ministers said Monday that Madrid did not need external financial aid yet.

In the tech sector, Intel was expected to be active after the stock was cut to "underperform" from "market perform" at Bernstein, which said the downgrade was based on long-term trends rather than expectations for the coming quarter. The news sent Intel shares down 0.89% in after-hour trade.

Meanwhile, IBM inched up 0.01% in late trading, after AT&T said it will combine resources with the computer tech giant to seek a bigger slice of the USD14 billion market for cloud-computing services.

Energy stocks were also likely to be in focus, amid reports Marathon Petroleum is preparing to buy BP's Texas City refinery, the site of a deadly industrial accident, in a USD2.5 billion deal that will make it the number 4 U.S. refiner with a bigger potential slice of lucrative exports.

Elsewhere in company news, chemicals maker TPC Group Isaid on Monday that it had received a buyout proposal from Innospec Iworth as much as USD721 million, topping an offer from two private equity firms made in August.

Other stocks in focus included Edwards Lifesciences, as it cut its revenue forecast for the third quarter. Sales of the medical device maker's unique heart valve that was expected to drive results fell short of estimates, sending shares down 15.79% after hours.

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were mixed to lower. The EURO STOXX 50 fell 0.12%, France’s CAC 40 added 0.15%, Germany's DAX dropped 0.40%, while Britain's FTSE 100 slipped 0.21%.

During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 0.54%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index plunged 1.06%.

Later in the day, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was to travel to Athens for talks with Greek political leaders. Meanwhile, finance ministers from the European Union were to hold a day of talks in Brussels.