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 Wall Street fell sharply Friday after an unwelcome mix of economic and corporate reports dashed hopes from earlier in the week that the economy would soon show signs of a nascent recovery. The recession concerns sent the major indexes down more than 2.5 percent Friday; the Dow Jones industrials lost 315 points.
Investors trying to determine whether recent pessimism has been well-founded or overwrought will be examining a report from the Institute for Supply Management on U.S. manufacturing in February. Many analysts are expecting contraction, after a slight gain in January and a pullback in December. Wall Street also expects construction spending to have slipped in January. Both readings are due after the opening bell.
Dow futures fell 77 points, or 0.63 percent, to 12,229. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 4.80, or 0.36 percent, to 1,326.50, and Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 3.25, or 0.19 percent, to 1,745.00.
Bond prices slipped after jumping sharply amid Friday's stock market losses. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.54 percent from 3.53 percent late Friday.
Light, sweet crude futures fell 61 cents to $101.23 in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Stock markets overseas fell sharply after Wall Street's retrenchment Friday. Japan's Nikkei stock average closed down 4.49 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 fell was off 1.47 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 1.67 percent, and France's CAC-40 declined 1.29 percent.
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 In corporate news, Boeing Co. lost a $40 billion Air Force tanker contract, weighing on the stock, which is one of the 30 that comprise the Dow industrials. Boeing had been supplying refueling tankers to the Air Force for nearly 50 years. European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., which makes Airbus planes, and Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman, were on Friday winners of one of the biggest Pentagon contracts in decades.
United Technologies Corp. said Sunday it has offered to acquire Diebold Inc. for $2.63 billion. United Technologies, the parent of jet engine-maker Pratt & Whitney, Otis elevator and Sikorsky Aircraft, said it made the unsolicited offer Friday after trying to negotiate a deal with Diebold for two years. The move would broaden the company's security business and expand its presence in China.
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On the Net:
New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com/
Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com/
[Associated Press; By TIM PARADIS]
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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