Investors focused on events in Europe

By msnbc.com news services

U.S. investors remain focused on events in Europe Tuesday.

Traders are positioning themselves ahead of emergency talks among the Group of Seven industrialized nations to tackle a deepening euro zone crisis.

German debt prices rose and Spanish bond yields briefly jumped after Spain's treasury minister said the country was effectively shut out of the financing market. Two-year yields rose above 5 percent for a fifth straight session while the 10-year held steady near 6.4 percent.

The S&P 500 was flat for the day on Monday after a steep decline last week as investors weighed low prices against the backdrop of Europe struggling with debt and slow growth.

"Valuations are extremely attractive, dividend yields compared to treasuries are at (multi-year) highs but the global macro overhang can certainly create another down step in the short term," said Oliver Pursche, president at Gary Goldberg Financial Services in Suffern, New York.

Hopes of action ahead of the G7 talks were muted, and the uncertainty kept investors on edge.

"I'd be genuinely surprised if at the end of the meeting the G7 came out with concrete steps of what they are going to do," said Pursche.

The Institute for Supply Management releases its U.S. non-manufacturing index for May at 10 a.m. ET. Economists in a Reuters survey forecast a reading of 53.5, a repeat of the April figure.

Facebook Inc was slightly lower in premarket trading after reaching a low of $26.44 on Monday. Four out of five Facebook users have never bought a product or service as a result of advertising or comments on the social network site, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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