Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a mixed to lower open on Monday, despite the rally created by upbeat U.S. employment data on Friday, as a disappointing trade balance report from China weighed on sentiment.
Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.09% loss, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.10% fall, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.03% gain.
The Labor Department reported on Friday that the U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs in February, well above expectations for 149,000 new jobs.
However, data released over the weekend showed that Chinese exports fell 18.1% on a year-over-year basis in February, confounding expectations for a 6.8% increase, following a rise of 10.6% in January.
A separate report showed that the annual rate of inflation in China slowed to 2.0% in February, from 2.5% in January.
The data added to fears over a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy.
Tech stocks were expected to be active, after chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices surged nearly 6% on Friday when Chief Executive Officer Rory Read said in an interview that the company makes about 30% of its sales from selling chips into devices other than PCs.
That number is up from about 4% when he joined the company in 2011, according to Read. The companys shares slightly retracted in pre-market trade, down 0.25%.
The energy sector was also slated to be in focus, following reports that BP is now the biggest loser among U.S. government vendors. The oil and gas giant was once the Pentagon’s top fuel supplier.
Bloomberg reported that a combination of no big contracts awarded and promised military work withdrawn left BP with a net loss of $654 million in federal contracts in the year that ended September 30, compared with $2.51 billion in awards in fiscal 2012.
Elsewhere, Boeing shares tumbled 1.98% in early trading after a 777-200 plane disappeared with 239 passengers during a Malaysia Airlines flight to Beijing on March 8.
Other stocks likely to be in focus included Urban Outfitters, scheduled to report quarterly results later in the day.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were mixed to higher. The EURO STOXX 50 climbed 0.58%, France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.87%, Germany's DAX slipped 0.11%, while Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.41%.
During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled 1.75%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index lost 1.01%.