By Mark DeCambre, MarketWatch

Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn has been arrested and will be fired said the auto maker, citing alleged 'misconduct'

U.S. stock indexes on Monday were set to open lower in a week that will be abbreviated by Thanksgiving on Thursday, with domestic markets set to be closed in one of the lowest-volume periods of the year.

How are benchmarks performing?

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were off 84 points, or 0.3%, at 25,367, those for the S&P 500 index were down 9.65 points, or 0.4%, at 2,733, and Nasdaq-100 futures declined 26.25 points to 6,869, a decline of 0.4%.

Last week, the Dow posted a weekly decline of 2.2%, the S&P 500 index declined by 1.6%, while Nasdaq Composite Index shed 2.2%.

What's driving the market?

Wall Street investors remain focused on U.S.-China trade tensions ahead of a meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping set to take place in Buenos Aires later this month.

Meanwhile, investors are also keying in on other important political narratives, including Brexit and the Italian budget crisis, which could all contribute to bouts of market volatility. U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May is slated to take her plan to get Britain from out of the European Union to Brussels after seemingly avoiding a leadership challenge--at least for now.

Italian and EU officials remain in a protracted deadlock over the Italian government's budget plans, which Brussels said run afoul of the bloc's rules, setting up a clash between the two that could prove market-disruptive.

What are strategists saying?

"The market decline that started on Sept. 20 has yet to recover fully, as the S&P 500 is still 6.6% below its all-time high," wrote Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA, in a Monday research note.

"Encouragingly, the Oct. 29 intraday low for this decline remains above the low resulting from the selloff endured earlier in the year. History reminds us that [year-to-date] declines are common and are typically followed by full-year recoveries," he wrote.

Which stocks were in focus?

Netflix Inc.'s (NFLX) stock chart is set to open (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/netflixs-first-bearish-death-cross-chart-pattern-to-appear-in-2-years-at-the-open-2018-11-19)with a new bearish death cross, as the 50-day moving average for the first time since October 2016 falls beneath the 200-day MA.

Sonos Inc. shares rise as the company teases a new roster of its audio products (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sonos-offers-teaser-for-new-line-of-products-as-shares-rocket-10-2018-11-16).

Nissan Motor Co. (NSANY)(NSANY) Chairman Carlos Ghosn was arrested Monday in Tokyo, Japanese media reported, and Nissan said it intended to oust Ghosn from his post after uncovering "significant acts" of financial misconduct.

Apple Inc.'s shares (AAPL) were in focus after The Wall Street Journal reported that the iPhone maker's production woes are slamming its suppliers. Last week, major iPhone suppliers including Qorvo Inc. (QRVO), Lumentum Holdings Inc. (LITE) and Japan Display Inc. (6740.TO) .

What data are ahead

A November reading of home builders is scheduled to be released at 10 a.m. Eastern Time.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 19, 2018 07:54 ET (12:54 GMT)