By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures dropped Friday,
signaling Wall Street's major benchmarks were set to extend sharp
losses for the week during which equities were rocked and
volatility spiked on fears about slowing global growth.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJZ4) fell 52
points, or 0.3%, to 16,558 and those for S&P 500 index (SPZ4)
lost 4.4 points, or 0.2%, to 1,920. Futures for the Nasdaq 100
index (NDZ4) gave up 29 points, or 0.7%, to 3,941.75.
Fresh in the mind of investors on Friday will be Thursday's
selloff that sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) tumbling
335 points, its worst one-day point slide in more than a year. The
S&P 500 (SPX) (SPX) was knocked down by 2.1% and the Nasdaq
Composite (RIXF) was kicked lower by 2.2%.
The indexes were each on track for declines of at least 2%.
"Bad economic data is now being viewed as bad and the dovish
signals from central banks are now being taken as a sign of
weakness rather than a reason to ramp up equities," wrote Jonathan
Sudaria, a dealer at Capital Spreads, in Friday note that
highlighted the rout in European stocks spurred by worries about
the global economy.
"Going into the weekend with so much uncertainty in the air will
only further fuel traders compulsion to get out of risky assets and
it would take a miracle for the bulls to salvage anything today,"
he wrote.
The widely watched CBOE VIX (VIX) gauge of current fear in the
market on Thursday surged 23% to mark its highest level since
February.
Data: A report on prices paid for goods imported into the U.S.
in September is due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Prices are expected
to decline by 0.7%.
At 2 p.m., Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker will deliver a
speech at the annual meeting of the National Conference of
Bankruptcy Judges. At the same time, Kansas City Fed President
Esther George is scheduled to speak at McCook Community College in
McCook, Neb. George isn't a voting member of the Fed policy
committee this year.
Stocks to watch: Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA) late Thursday unveiled
its latest Model S car.
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) shares rose late Thursday following the
security software maker's plan to split in two publicly traded
companies.
Juniper Networks Inc. (JNPR) late Thursday warned third-quarter
revenue and adjusted earnings are likely to come in below its
previous estimates.
Other markets: Oil futures (CLX4) dropped 1.6%, below $85 a
barrel. They finished Thursday's session at their lowest level
since December 2012. Brent futures fell 1.3% to below $90 a barrel.
Gold futures (GCZ4) shed $3 an ounce. The dollar (DXY) was slightly
higher against its rivals after Thursday's fall to a fresh
three-week low.
Asian stocks overnight were hit hard, leaving Hong Kong's Hang
Seng Index and Tokyo's Nikkei Average down 1.9% and 1.2%,
respectively. The Stoxx Europe 600 was looking at its biggest
weekly loss in more than a year.
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