Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open on Monday, after U.S. equitiy markets dropped sharply on Friday due to profit-taking and as investors prepared for earnings season this week.
Ahead of the open, the Dow 30 futures pointed to a 0.31% fall, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.38% decline, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.72% drop.
On Friday, data showed that the U.S. economy added 192,000 jobs in March, below expectations for jobs growth of 200,000. The U.S. unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.7%, compared to expectations for a downtick to 6.6%.
Although the data disappointed market expectations, it still seemed to indicate that the Federal Reserve will maintain the current pace of reductions to its asset purchase program.
Tech stocks were expected to be active, after Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) said in a report on Friday that it feared iPhone sales have declined due to growing competition from Android devices that have either larger screens or lower prices.
Apple shares dropped 0.50% in pre-market trade.
Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (NYSE:POT) was also likely to be in focus, after Chief Executive Officer Bill Doyle is about to step down after almost 15 years heading the company. Doyle had recently fended off BHP Billiton's hostile takeover bid for the Canadian fertilizer producer only to later lose a price war with a Russian rival.
In the financial sector, BlackRock Inc. (NYSE:BLK), down 0.04% in early trading, said it is expanding top leadership in a reorganization that will result in new roles for at least 10 senior executives.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were lower. The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 retreated 0.55%, France’s CAC 40 declined 0.57%, Germany's DAX tumbled 1.06%, while Britain's FTSE 100 slid 0.46%.
During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.59%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 plummeted 1.69%.