Wall Street Poised Open In Negative Zone

(RTTNews) - Initial cues from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open in the red. Asian shares finished mostly lower, while European shares are broadly in negative territory.

As of 8.00 am ET, the Dow futures were down 336.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were declining 53.75 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were falling 203.25 points.

The U.S. major averages finished down on Friday. The Dow closed down 333.59 points or 0.77 percent at 42,992.21, well off the day's low of 42,761.56. The S&P 500, which dropped to 5,932.95, settled at 5,970.84 with a loss of 66.75 points or 1.11%, while the Nasdaq ended lower by 298.33 points or 1.49% at 19,722.03, recovering from a low of 19,533.40.

On the economic front, the Chicago PMI for December will be released at 9.45 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 42.7, while it was up 40.2 in the prior month.

The Pending Home Sales Index for November is issued at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 0.9 percent. In October the Index was up 2.0 percent.

The Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey for December is scheduled at 10.30 am ET. In the prior month, the general activity index was down 2.7 and the production index in November was down 0.9.

Six-month Treasury bill auction will be held at 11.30 am ET.

Asian stocks ended mixed on Monday. China's Shanghai Composite index edged up by 0.21 percent to 3,407.33. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index finished down 0.24 percent at 20,041.42.

Japanese markets fell sharply. The Nikkei average dipped 0.96 percent to 39,894.54. The broader Topix index settled 0.60 percent lower at 2,784.92.

Australian markets reversed to lower. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.32 percent to 8,235 while the broader All Ordinaries index closed 0.28 percent lower at 8,496.