NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stock futures took on an overall downbeat tone Wednesday as the fiscal drama in Washington dragged on, and with the fast-approaching Oct. 17 deadline for raising the nation's debt ceiling looming.
While the U.S. budget talks are expected to reach some kind of resolution allowing for a resumption of non-core government services in a couple of weeks or less, there were still some jitters that it could go longer and potentially cause a greater dent to the economy recovery. Investors were also concerned that lawmakers could lapse into a gridlocked situation during their discussions on the bigger debt ceiling issue.
"Italy should demonstrate to the U.S. how a responsible legislature operates, with the vote of confidence in the Letta government expected to pass today (Berlusconi's PDL having signaled a willingness to support the government for now)," Paul Donovan, the London-based UBS economist, wrote in his daily remarks.
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Futures for the S&P 500 were falling 11.5 points, or 10.05 points below fair value, to 1,678. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were slumping 78 points, or 68.70 points below fair value, to 15,042. Futures for the Nasdaq were slipping 15.5 points, or 15.35 points below fair value, to 3,230. In company headlines, three of the top 20 investors in Microsoft (MSFT) are lobbying the software company's board to press for Bill Gates to step down as chairman, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with matter. Gates co-founded Microsoft 38 years ago. The move appears to be the first time that major shareholders are taking aim at Gates, Reuters noted, for the company's performance and share price. The three investors are concerned that Gates' role as chairman blocks the adoption of new strategies and would limit the power of a new CEO to make substantial changes. CEO Steve Ballmer said in August he would retire within 12 months. Real estate company Re/Max said its initial public offering of 10 million common shares was priced at $22 a share, higher than the expected price range. Meanwhile, Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT), the company that owns the Empire State Building, said it sold 71.5 million shares at $13 a share, the low end of its expected range of $13 to $15 a share. Seed company Monsanto (MON) is expected by analysts on Wednesday to post a fiscal fourth-quarter loss of 43 cents a share on revenue of $2.24 billion. Payroll process Automatic Data Processing is expected to provide a glimpse into labor market conditions with its private payroll employment report for September at 8:15 a.m. EDT. Employment is expected to have grown by 180,000, up from 176,000 in August. It's now expected the Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report for September won't be released on Friday until the government resumes operations as usual. Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren is expected to speak in Burlington, Vt., at 12 p.m., while Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard are anticipated to give opening remarks at the St. Louis Fed's Community Banking Research Conference at 3 p.m. The FTSE 100 in London was falling 0.83% and the DAX in Germany was behind by 0.57%. The Hong Kong Hang Seng finished up 0.55% while the Nikkei 225 in Japan closed down by 2.17%. The benchmark 10-year Treasury was rising 4/32, pushing the yield down to 2.642%. The dollar was falling 0.04% to $80.11 according to the U.S. dollar index. December gold futures contracts were surging $8.30 to $1,294.40 an ounce, while November crude oil futures were down by 31 cents to $101.73 a barrel. Follow @atwtse -- Written by Andrea Tse in New York >To contact the writer of this article, click here: Andrea Tse.>
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