The futures are down because some of the banks’ earnings didn’t meet expectations.
Yup.
U.S. Stock Futures Signal Dip; Banks Earnings Eyed
Wed Jan 20, 2010 5:36am EST
* U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Wednesday, with futures for the S&P 500 SPc1 down 0.38 percent, Dow Jones DJc1 futures down 0.37 percent and Nasdaq 100 NDc1 futures down 0.48 percent at 1018 GMT.
* Investors were bracing for a flurry of earnings from financial majors such as Bank of America (BAC.N), Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Wells Fargo (WFC.N).
[snip]