US stock futures fall after foiled UK airline plot

NEW YORK, Aug 10 (Reuters) U.S. stock futures fell on Thursday after British police foiled a plot to blow up commercial aircraft flying between Britain and the United States, shaking European markets.

''We're headed for a lower opening and that's due to this terrorist plot,'' said Peter Cardillo, chief market analyst and chief strategist at SW Bach and Co. in New York. ''This once again brings up the terrorism concern and raises the level of fear in the markets.'' The U.S. government said it had raised the security threat level for all commercial aviation in coordination with security measures undertaken by Britain. In an unprecedented move, the government raised the threat level for commercial flights originating in Britain to ''severe,'' the highest U.S. threat level. For details, see ID:nN10387109 ID:nL10913913 ''It's going to obviously be negative for transportation stocks and perhaps some other sectors could benefit, such as metals, in some flight-to-quality issues,'' Cardillo said. Shares of gold miners could benefit as gold is seen as a safe-haven investment during times of geopolitical risk.

Standard&Poor's 500 futures were down 6.3 points, below fair value, a mathematical formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract.

Dow Jones industrial average futures were down 49 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures were down 8.25 points.

Shares of overseas air carriers fell as Britain's FTSE 100 index declined 1.3 percent.

British police said they were holding 21 people in connection with a thwarted plot to blow up passenger planes flying between Britain and the U.S. and cause ''mass murder on an unimaginable scale.'' Media stocks are likely to be in focus after EchoStar Communications Corp. and Viacom Inc. rallied in after-hours trading after beating Wall Street profit and revenue forecasts.

ID:nN09350971 ID:nN09319272 Insurer American International Group may come under pressure after the Dow component said its earnings fell 29 percent.

ID:nN09353267 Retailers will likely be in focus with earnings due from JC Penney Co. Inc., Kohl's Corp. and Target Corp.

In news about the economy, the Labor Department will report on initial unemployment insurance claims for the latest week while the Commerce Department will release figures on U.S. international trade for June. Both are due at 8:30 a.m. (1230 GMT).

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