By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures dropped sharply on Monday as investors turned to safe havens and unloaded risky assets such as equities. Unrest in Hong Kong increasing strength in the dollar outweighed better-than-expected consumer confidence data.

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJZ4) futures fell 152 points, or 0.9%, to 16,873, extending their losses, while those for the S&P 500 (SPZ4) fell 20 points, or 1%, to 1,956. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index (NDZ4) fell 47 points, or 1.2%, to 3,999.

At least some of the early unrest in the market stemmed from violent pro-democracy clashes in Hong Kong over the weekend and on Monday, which forced some banks and businesses to close and pushed the Hang Seng Index 1.9% lower. Meanwhile, the dollar hit its highest level in more than six years against the yen on the perception that the U.S. central bank is looking stronger than its peers around the globe.

Wouter Sturkenboom, London-based investment strategist at Russell Investment, said the losses could revert through the course of the day. U.S. stocks staged a rally on Friday, but finished the week in the red after Thursday's rout. Read: Investors likely to focus on jobs data

Two big events to watch this week: "For us, this week is about two things: ECB [European Central Bank] policy and nonfarm payrolls," said Sturkenboom, referring to Thursday's ECB meeting and Friday's payrolls. He said traders are expecting a robust payrolls growth number of around 215,000. "Anything that upsets that expectation will cause volatility, but that volatility could go either way." Read: Big rebound seen for U.S. jobs growth

Data: Consumer spending rebounded in August as Americans spent more on heavy-duty items such autos and less on nondurable goods like gasoline, while income increased as well.

Pending home sales for August are out at 10 a.m. Eastern.

Chicago Fed President Charles Evans appeared on CNBC and said: "I think there will be quite some time before it becomes appropriate to raise rates".

Evans is scheduled to give a speech on current economic conditions to the National Association for Business Economics meeting in Chicago at 9 a.m. Eastern. Evans will be a voting member of the Fed policy committee in 2015.

Dollar soars, Hong Kong slumps: Sturkenboom said this will also be a big week for the dollar (USDJPY), which reached a 22-month high against the euro Monday (EURUSD). "Both the ECB and NFP report will directly impact this trend and we wouldn't be surprised if we get another strong U.S. dollar week," he said.

While Hong Kong stumbled, the rest of Asia finished mixed. Europe stocks eased back with miners under pressure in London, partly due to China-growth worries.

Stocks to watch: DreamWorks Animation SKG (DWA) surged 21% in premarket after The Hollywood Reporter said Japanese conglomerate SoftBank is looking to acquire the animation studio.

Athlon Energy Inc (ATHL) jumped 24% on news Encana Corp. (ECA) will buy it for $5.93 billion in cash.

Shares of Ambit Biosciences Corp. (AMBI) climbed 90% on news Daiichi Sankyo Co. will buy Ambit for about $315 million in cash.

European Union regulators are expected to publish a report as soon as Monday showing tax practices granted to Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Fiat SpA violated EU law, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources.

Late Friday, Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer said the company is reviewing a letter from activist investor Starboard Value, urging it to merge with AOL Inc.(AOL). Shares were up slightly.

Options contracts on shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.(BABA) are expected to become available on Monday.

Janus Capital Group Inc. (JNS) shares were off by 1%. On Friday, Pimco founder Bill Gross said he would leave Pimco to take a job at Janus. Morgan Stanley upgraded Janus shares to equal weight on the view that more assets will follow Gross than the market expects.

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