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 The global equities sell-offs were linked to concerns that there may be more massive write-downs by global banks for subprime loan losses and worries that the Federal Reserve may not cut interest rates as much as investors would like when it ends a two-day meeting on Wednesday. These problems also weigh on U.S. investors' and should pressure stocks at Monday's openings.
Dow Jones industrial average futures were down 48 points, or 0.25 percent, at 12,188. Standard & Poor's 500 futures were off 7.1 points, or 0.19 percent, at 1,322.90 and Nasdaq 100 futures down 18 points, or 0.99 percent, at 1,775.5.
A series of events this week, including expected references to the economy in President Bush's final state of the union address Monday evening and the Federal Reserve's interest rate announcement, are expected to influence trading. The Fed dropped rates by 0.75 percentage point last Tuesday, and another rate cut is expected this week.
Hopes for a very large cut, however, have been tempered by a revelation by French bank Societe Generale last week that it sold European index futures to close a position taken by an alleged rogue trader. It is now thought that those trades may have been a substantial part of the reason that global indexes suffered massive losses one week ago when U.S. markets were closed.
New data reports Monday will give clues into the state of the housing market and corporate spending levels. Sales of new homes last month are expected to decline to 625,000 from 647,000 in November, according to a poll of economists by Thomson/IFR.
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 The Commerce Department's durable goods report for December is expected to rise by 0.5 percent, which would be up from 0.1 percent the month before, according to Thomson/IFR.
Overseas markets fell Monday amid continuing economic concerns and also in response to Friday's decline on Wall Street. In Tokyo, the Nikkei stock average dropped 4 percent and in Shanghai, plunged 7.2 percent. European bourses also were largely under pressure, as London's FTSE 100 fell 2.05 percent, Frankfurt's DAX gave up 1.71 percent and Paris's CAC 40 lost 2.30 percent.
In corporate news, Sears Holdings Corp. said its chief executive, Aylwin Lewis, will resign from the department store chain on Feb 2. He will be succeeded by W. Bruce Johnson, executive vice president of supply chain and operations on an interim basis. Last week, Sears said it would change its organizational structure in an effort to improve performance.
Troubled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. is back in the news. Chairman and chief executive Angelo Mozilo is going to forfeit $37.5 million in pay and benefits. Mozilo was widely criticized for collecting massive pay at a time when millions of Americans may be forced into foreclosure.
[Associated Press; By LESLIE WINES]
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