European and US futures down on IMF's warning on debt ceilling

FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - The German DAX 30 (-0.25%), the French CAC 40 (-0.50%), the Italian FTSE MIB (-0.37%) and the Spanish IBEX 35 (-0.49%) are down as most of the equity indexes in Europe, with a particular exception of the Swiss 20, rising by +2.59% on the release of the SVME PMI that has beaten consensus for an unchanged figure, rising from 48.5 to 49.5 in December. The unemployment in Germany rose only 3K in December, instead of the 10K consensus.

Market focus is changing from the US fiscal cliff to worries regarding the US debt ceilling. A wave of "risk off" sentiment showed up after IMF's spokesman Gerry Rice warning that the US government has to do better to put its public finances back on a sustainable path.

Futures for the S&P 500 (-0.27%), Nasdaq 100 (-0.17%) and Dow Jones (-0.18%) are signaling a lower opening ahead of the American opening ahead of the US ADP employment report and the December FOMC minutes.